


Getting Some Bad Reception

by PeptoBeezy



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Jealousy, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Rating May Change, Slight Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, maybe a little more violent?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 103,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27021871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeptoBeezy/pseuds/PeptoBeezy
Summary: Yu Narukami is a young man who exudes nothing but calmness, confidence and resolve. He’s incredibly soft spoken, but popular. Real hit with the ladies, and even some men, but he never gives anyone the time of day, then, by the time they recover from getting rejected, or when they're ready to take another shot at a confession, he’s already transferred to another school.This time, his parents have sent him to his longest stay somewhere in a long time, living with his uncle and his cousin in Inaba for a year. He settles into his fate, expecting another year of nothing, but this time in the sticks.How wrong he is.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Labrys, Narukami Yu/Satonaka Chie, Persona 4 Protagonist/Satonaka Chie, Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Comments: 90
Kudos: 121





	1. Tuning In

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my first fanfiction! Little bit about me, I'm a big persona fan, in case that wasn't obvious (First played P3FES in 2010). I'm fairly new to fanfiction in general, I had a stigma towards it for quite a long time, but I stumbled upon Crimson by Dowdz at the start of this year and that stigma quickly faded away. I have ideas for a P5 fanfic and a P3 fanfic, but I got more ideas for this one first so I decided to work on this one. I'm a big Ren/Makoto guy for P5, a massive Makoto/Yukari guy for P3, as well as Kotone or Minako with Aigis, Mitsuru, Akihiko or Shinjiro, can't really decide on one there. Chie is my favorite character from P4, and my main reason for writing this fic, I think it's criminal how little Yu/Chie there is out there, and believe me I've scoured the earth for it, as well as Yosuke/Labrys, and I just wanted to add a bit more to the pot, even if it isn't good. This fic will be the whole game of Persona 4 Golden and will be spanning most of the P4 spinoffs (Arena, Ultimax and Q.). I have ideas for PQ2 in the P5 fic whenever I get to that. I'm a bit nervous to be uploading this but also excited, as I'll hopefully be getting some constructive criticisms! This fanfic draws inspiration from a lot of other fics, and some that I read early on in the year, so hopefully I remember all of them and am able to list them when I draw from them, and apologies in advance if I don't.
> 
> All that being said, please enjoy Getting Some Bad Reception!

**4/11 Monday**

Taking in the idle chatter of the other people on the train platform, Yu Narukami fixes the collar of his new uniform. Well, “fixes” isn’t really an apt term, he’s more so just popping the collars of his shirt and jacket, but he sees it as fixing it. _These collars are a nice touch, now I won’t have to overheat till the summer wearing a turtleneck under my uniform. Plus, this makes me look more… alpha? Doesn’t scream delinquent, but also doesn’t scream honors student either, good first impression._

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of screeching metal, he turns his attention towards the track to see the train arriving. He finishes readjusting himself and boards the crowded train. His mind drifts back to the dream he had last night, of an old man with a long nose and a beautiful woman in a limo with a deep blue interior. They asked him to sign a contract, then the long nosed man proceeded to tell him his fortune. _Must’ve been something I ate._ He steps off the train and goes onto another, then onto the train that will take him to the place he’ll be staying for the year, Inaba, some small rural town in the middle of nowhere. He looks forward to the quiet in comparison to the city.

As Yu idly checks his phone, a stoic voice crackles through the train speakers. “Yasoinaba. Yasoinaba.” Yu reaches to grab his belongings as a flash of memory of the dream he had comes over him. He shakes his head and grabs his bag, stepping off the train and down the stairs into Inaba. Stopping to take in his surroundings, he goes and buys a water bottle from a nearby vending machine. As he bends down to pick up his bottle, a gruff voice calls out to him.

“Hey! Over here!” Yu turns, and begins walking towards the duo he sees. A middle-aged man with a head of black hair and a little-past-five o’clock shadow on his face smiles at him, alongside a little girl with brown bangs and pigtails partially hides behind his leg. “Well, you’re more handsome in person than in your photo.” Yu readjusts his bag on his shoulder, smirking at the compliment. “Welcome to Inaba. I’m Ryotaro Dojima, I’ll be looking after you. Let’s see… I’m your mother’s younger brother… and that about sums it up.” Dojima finishes, scratching the back of his neck.

“It’s nice to meet you.” His response comes out quieter than he wanted it to, visibly wincing after he finishes speaking. “Sorry, it’s nice to meet you, Dojima-san” He speaks at a slightly louder volume. 

His uncle chuckles at the awkwardness of the interaction, then smiles a bit brighter. “You probably don’t remember, but we’ve met. I’ve changed your diapers before, you know.” The teen raises a brow. _Glad to know he’s seen me naked._ Dojima gently nudges the girl behind him to be in front of him. “This here’s my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin.” 

The girl fidgets a bit and looks to the ground before making a small whine, then murmurs a greeting he can barely hear. She blushes and retreats behind her father once again, this time trying to hide herself as much as physically possible. Dojima laughs warmly, “You’re quieter than he is, and what’re you so shy for?” Nanako’s blush deepens and she slaps her father on his butt. “Ow!” As he continues laughing, she makes another noise of discontent, then he finally composes himself, “Well then, let’s get going. My car’s over there.” Yu nods and the three begin walking towards the car, then a feminine voice comes from behind him.

“Hey.” He turns to see a rather unfriendly-looking girl wearing an outfit that baffles him. “You dropped this.” She holds out to him the note he made for himself about Dojima’s address with a look of complete disinterest, he shakes off his bewilderment at her outfit and takes the paper. He thanks her but she waves her hand, “Whatever, all I did was pick it up.” Then she just walks away. _Okay… what a sour attitude. But that was a sign of good things to come, if all the girls in Inaba look anything like her, then I think I’m in for an entertaining year._ His uncle calls out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he climbs into the car.

They stop at the gas station on their way back, Nanako goes to the bathroom, and after a short conversation with the gas station attendant, Dojima goes to have a smoke a short walk away. Yu stretches as the attendant fills up the car. “So… you in highschool? We need some part-timers here, you interested?” The highschooler in question just shakes his head. _Bit early in my stay to start looking for work._ “Still tryin’ to get used to how dull it is compared to the big city? You’ll be bored to tears if you don’t have a job or somethin.’” The attendant puts the gas pump back in its holder and turns back to Yu, “Hey look, just give it some thought, sound good?” He holds out his hand.

“Yeah, sure.” After waiting a moment, he’s not entirely sure the man heard him so he just shakes his hand. The attendant nods and heads towards another car that just pulled in as Dojima comes back from his break. He apologizes for making him wait and pats Yu on the shoulder. Yu winces at a sharp pain in his head and stumbles lightly into the back of the car. 

Nanako looks at the teenager holding his head with a look of concern, “Are you okay? You look bad, are you carsick-y?” Yu shakes his head, not trusting his voice at the moment.

Dojima looks back through the rear-view mirror, “You must be exhausted after that ride, just relax, we’ll be home in a few minutes.” Yu closes his eyes in a fruitless attempt to speed up the slowly fading migraine. They arrive at the house, a very calming interior greets him and he goes upstairs to begin unpacking. After a few hours pass, along with a short nap, he feels a bit better, and he’s called downstairs for dinner. A delectable assortment of sushi lies on the table before him.

“All right, let’s have a toast.” His uncle raises his glass a bit, so Nanako and Yu follow suit, all clinking together then taking a sip. “So.. your mom and dad are busy as always… They’re working overseas, was it?” Yu nods as he begins eating. “I know it’s only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents… it’s rough being a kid.” 

Yu stops eating for a moment. _Guess he doesn’t know about all the transfers in the city then, don’t think it’d do much of anything to tell them that I’m used to it though._ After shrugging in response, he continues eating. 

“Well, it’s just me and Nanako here, so it’ll be nice having someone like you around. As long as you’re here, you’re part of the family, so make yourself at home.” He finishes with a smile, and Yu can’t help but smile and bow in return. “C’mon, there’s no need to be so formal. Look, you’re making Nanako all tense.” He teases, and Nanako jumps slightly at her name, she looks down and continues eating after calming herself. 

After about five seconds of silence, Dojima’s phone rings, he groans and answers, “Dojima speaking… yeah? I see, so where is it? Uh-huh, alright, I’m on my way.” He sighs and flips his phone shut after hanging up. “Looks like I made the right choice skipping the booze.” He mutters before looking at the two still eating, “Sorry, but I gotta go and take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me. I don’t know how late I’ll be, Nanako, you help him out okay?” _He’s leaving this late for work? What kind of job drags him out of the house at dinner?_ He walks over to the front door and puts his shoes on, then grabs his umbrella once he realizes it’s raining. “Nanako it’s raining out, what did you do with the laundry?!” He calls as he’s about to head out the door.

“I already brought it in.” She says with a small sense of pride, but with a frown on her face. Dojima says his goodbyes and closes the front door, leaving the two cousins to sit and eat in silence. After a few minutes of neither of them saying anything, Nanako turns the TV on, which is talking about this week’s weather. 

_I should strike up a conversation, don’t wanna make her think I don’t wanna talk to her._ “It must be tough.” She doesn’t respond, and he assumes that he must’ve been quieter than the TV so he sighs and repeats himself a bit louder, she looks at him and swallows her food.

“...It’s always like this, my dad’s a detective.” She turns to the TV, and he does the same. The news talks about some politician’s affair with a reporter. “This is boring.” Nanako says as she changes the channel, and Yu hums in agreeance. The channel changes to one with an advertisement for some place called Junes, which has an annoyingly catchy jingle that Nanako happily and adorably sings along to, seemingly uplifting her gloomy mood. Yu smiles and finishes eating, still a tad hungry, he walks over to the fridge and spots some fried rice, he eats that, and finds that it has no taste. _...Strange._ He then bids Nanako a good night and turns in early.

**4/12 Tuesday**

He wakes up the next morning in a cold sweat. _What the fuck was that?! What was in that fog? That pressure… my power, that thing that appeared behind me?! I bet it was the fried rice, shit that’s completely tasteless just can’t be good for you._ Yu changes out of his pajamas into his uniform and heads downstairs to see that Nanako cooked a whole breakfast for both of them. 

She sits down, kicking her legs back and forth at the kitchen table, “Okay, let’s eat.” After the two of them eat their breakfast, Nanako happily proposes that they walk to school together, since her school is on the way to his, to which he smiles and happily agrees to. They grab their umbrellas and head out, after reaching Samegawa flood plain, she stops and tells him to keep going straight from here, and she walks back in the opposite direction towards her school. He waves and heads toward his destination. 

Upon reaching an intersection, he hears squeaking coming from behind him, followed by “Shit, watch out!” After turning to the voice and backstepping a bit, he sees a boy with light brown hair swivel and crash into a telephone pole, upon which the bike bounced up and hit the teen right in the baby banks. He grunts in agony and jumps around, trying to dull the pain. 

_Ouch, that hurts just seeing it. Think I’ll just let him deal with this on his own._ Yu pats the boy on the back before continuing his walk, and the boy seemed to be in too much pain to even notice. He arrives at the front gate of Yasogami High, taking in the sight. He looks in a puddle and adjusts his collars once again. _Here we go, first impression, loud and stoic, but cool and confident._ He walks into the school, ready to begin his second year.

***Chie POV***

Chie Satonaka sits at her desk, talking to her best friend since childhood, Yukiko Amagi, a beautiful girl with long black hair. The students in the class are talking about some cute transfer student joining them this year, alongside the titular Mr. Morooka being their homeroom teacher. Chie tries her best to ignore that she’ll be stuck with King Moron for an entire year and instead focuses on the transfer student from the city. “Just like you, huh, Yosuke?” She turns to look at the other transfer student from the city, only from the year prior, Yosuke Hanamura, who has his upper body sprawled across his desk. “Woah, you look dead today.” He doesn’t even look up and only grunts in response. _His uniform is kinda wet too, what the hell happened to him?_ “What’s with him?” She turns back to Yukiko, who shrugs.

“Who knows?” The conversation ends there since the door to the classroom opens, and in walks his royal highness, King Moron, alongside a tall and handsome boy with silver hair and gray eyes. _Huh, he is kinda cute, guess those girls were right._

“Awright, shut yer traps! I’m Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward. First things first! Just cuz it’s spring doesn’t mean you can swoon over each other like love struck baboons. Long as I’m around, you students are gonna be pure as snow!” The entire class sighs at the first tirade of the year. “Now I hate wasting my time, but I’d better introduce this transfer student.” The student in question shifts his eyes in King Moron’s direction, rather than the back of the classroom where they have been. “This sad sack’s been thrown away from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday’s garbage, and he’s just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!” The student now turns his head towards the teacher, and narrows his eyes. “Go on kid, tell em’ your name.” Morooka says without even looking at him.

He looks toward the class again, “...I’m Yu Narukami.” Narukami speaks quietly and shakily, visibly wincing at something after he finished speaking. Then returning his glare to the teacher, “...You calling me a loser?” The student still speaks quietly, but menacingly. _Geez, he said that so quiet that the rain hitting the window was almost louder than him from over here._

King Moron must’ve not even heard him because he thinks that Narukami was looking at one of the girls by the window, and he’s already started the second tirade of the year. _Wow, I can’t tell if that’s good luck or terrible luck. He talked back to King Moron and didn't get called out! But he’s getting yelled at for something completely different that he didn't even do. Transfer student’s got some guts! I should probably help him out though…_

Chie raises her hand and interrupts King Moron’s rant, “Excuse me! Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?” The cute transfer student looks at Chie and raises his eyebrows, or maybe he’s looking at Yukiko, kinda difficult to tell. King Moron yells at him to sit down, and he saunters his way over to the open desk next to Chie. She leans over to him and whispers, “He’s the worst, huh? Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class... we’ll just need to hold on for a year.” He nods in response, and mutters a barely audible thank you. “Don’t mention it.” She flashes him a toothy grin, and begins listening in on what the other students are talking about as King Moron keeps rambling. She turns back to the transfer student, _Narukami-kun, I think? Ooo maybe me and Yukiko should talk to him after school! I wanna hear if he has any cool stories about the city. Oh haha, I could do my wingman routine!_ She smirks mischievously, and quickly looks away when he notices her stare. _Watch out, kinda hot new guy, you’re gonna get an amazing first impression of us!_

***Yu POV***

_God fucking damn it, I don’t even think anyone heard me! Amazing first impression Narukami, now everyone thinks you’re some mute jackass who got yelled at by a teacher for no reason. There was nothing stoic about that, nothing cool, nothing confident, you radiate beta energy, not alpha!_ Yu’s self-deprecation is stopped by the PA system announcing that there is a meeting for teachers and that students must stay in class until further notice. Sirens sound in the distance and Morooka leaves the room, a few students get up and walk over to the window, and complain that they can’t see anything because of the fog. _You know, now that I think about, this is the first time I haven’t sat by the window in one of my classes._

He looks over to see that some boy was talking to the cute girl in a red sweater who sits in front of the cute girl in a green jacket. _That girl at the train station was a good sign after all. Every girl I’ve seen so far is incredibly attractive, and they seem friendly to boot. Shitty impressions aside, things are looking up._ The boy walks away and the girl in green walks over and leans on the girl in red’s desk, he’s still kinda mad at himself for botching his introduction, so he only manages to hear something about rainy nights and something about an announcer soulmate? Their conversation is interrupted by the PA system once again blaring and announcing that there was an incident in the school district, telling the students to leave the premises. 

As he gets up to leave, he’s approached by the christmas colored duo. “Hey, are you going home by yourself?” He nods, “Why don’t you come with us?” The light brown haired girl offers with a smile, his eyes widen and he can’t help but smile a little bit. _This is the first time anybody approached me with such kindness so early on._ “Oh, nearly forgot! I’m Chie Satonaka, I sit next to you.”

Yu clears his throat and speaks, “Of course.” He closes his eyes in frustration.

“Well, nice to meet you!” His eyes shoot open, and he hopes he doesn’t look too surprised, if he does, they don’t say anything. “This is Yukiko Amagi.” Chie introduces the cute red clad girl. 

“Oh, nice to meet you… I’m sorry that this is so sudden.” Yukiko apologizes for their introductions on behalf of her friend, a gesture that Yu sees as unnecessary, as he was kinda happy about it. 

“Oh c’mon, don’t apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing.” Yu stifles a laugh at that. “I just wanted to ask some stuff. Really, that’s all. Well come on, let’s get going, I wanna hear about the city!” _Not really much to say honestly, or rather, nothing I’d really wanna talk about. Oh hey, it’s the bike guy._ The possibly infertile student walks up to the trio and seems visibly nervous for some reason. He reaches into his bag and pulls out what looks like a movie case. 

“Uh, umm, Miss Satonaka?” He stutters nervously, and a bit of sweat forms on his forehead. _Miss Satonaka? This guy looks like he’s about to piss his pants, why is he so scared of her?_ “This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see… so… thanksforlettingmeborrowitseeya!” He speaks absurdly fast, puts the case in her hands and proceeds to try and leave the class as fast as possible, only to be grabbed at the collar. 

“Hold it!” She lets go and he doesn’t try to run again, she opens the case and gasps. “What the?! My Trial of the Dragon, it’s completely cracked! What did you do?!” She glares and he withers under her gaze. 

“I-it was a total accident, a-and I’ll pay for it the s-second I get my next paycheck! So please don’t ki-” He’s interrupted by a flash of movement, as something he couldn’t see coming hits him right in the balls. Yu winces as the now definitely infertile student crumples onto the floor. _Oh. That’s why he was terrified._

“Come on guys, let’s go.” The cute girl with kicks that break men icily commands the two who aren’t mourning their conceptual children. Chie leaves without looking back, and Yukiko follows suit without question. Yu looks at the boy on the floor, reaches a hand out and hesitates. _Twice in one day, sucks to suck man. Eh, he managed to bounce back from the first time, bet he can do it again and better. I’ll just leave him be._

***Chie POV***

_I can’t believe how terrible of a mood I’m in. Damn it, stupid Yosuke, breaking my Trial of the Dragon. Now there’s this creepy guy hitting on Yukiko and he doesn’t even go to school here!_ The creep in question is a boy with short black hair and black eyes that seem to lack life, accompanied by an outfit that seems more like funeral attire than a school uniform. “You’re Yuki, right? Y-you wanna go hang out somewhere?” He says in a voice that matches the lifelessness in his eyes.

“What…? W-who are you?” Yukiko questions as a small crowd begins to gather around them. 

Utterances of that stupid Amagi challenge fill the tense air until the creepy suitor decides to speak again, “Um… so are you coming or not?” He asks in an almost irritated tone.

Chie turns to look at Narukami-kun, who says something she can’t hear, but his lips said “Amagi challenge,” and he quirked an eyebrow so she knew it was a question. “It’s some dumb thing about asking Yukiko out.” He “ahh’s” in response, and gives a nod. At some point during this interaction, the creep stormed off.

“Wh-what’d he want from me?” Yukiko asks with confusion filling her voice.

Chie’s eyes widen at her friend's cluelessness, “What’d he want? Uh, obviously he was asking you out on a date.” Yukiko gasps softly and covers her mouth, Chie rolls her eyes, what would she do without her? “You really had no clue? Sheesh… But then again, that was way over the top. It was creepy how he called you ‘Yuki’ all of a sudden. ‘Hey Yuki, wanna go out with me?’” She drops her voice as deep as she can to do a funny impression of the creep. Yukiko chuckles softly and rolls her eyes, and Chie turns to look at Narukami-kun, who has a smile on his face looking at her, which causes her heart to skip a beat. _Woah, he’s pretty handsome when he smiles, almost makes me forget that I just saw a guy who made my skin crawl._ She looks away to bite down the burning sensation flowing up to her cheeks, and sees Yukiko doing the same thing! _Jackpot!_ A squeaking noise interrupts her internal victory, as Yosuke (somehow) walks over to the trio while pushing his bike.

“Yo, Yukiko-san. Turned down another lovelorn fool, huh? Man, you’re cruel… you got me the same way last year.” 

Yukiko tilts her head up in thought with a contemplative look on her face, she then tilts her head back down with a neutral expression. “I don’t remember doing that.” Normally, this would hurt a guy who was rejected, not even being remembered. 

But Yosuke isn’t a normal guy. His expression turns hopeful, and he smirks as he asks, “Whoa, you serious? So then, you wanna hang out sometime?!”

“I’d rather not.” Yukiko immediately replies.

“That’ll teach me get my hopes up…” He sighs dejectedly. “Anyways, you two better not pick on the transfer student too much.” He hops on his bike and speeds away. 

“We’re just curious, is all!” Chie yells after him in defense.

Yukiko looks to Narukami-kun to apologize for involving him in all this nonsense, but he speaks before she can. “He has to be wearing a cup, there’s no way he could be riding his bike otherwise, he couldn't even be walking.” His quiet statement is so unexpected that Chie bursts out laughing, and Yukiko turns away and covers her mouth while her body shakes. _Oh man, he made her go into one of her laughing fits without even knowing her! He’s perfect for her!_ She ignored the unpleasant feeling in her stomach as she finished that thought and began walking home, the other two quickly following.

As they’ve been walking, Chie was asking questions about Narukami-kun’s old schools and why he transferred to Inaba, she was kinda disappointed with the few answers she got honestly. “Ah… so you moved here because of your parents’ job? I thought it was something way more serious.” She turns to look at their surroundings, taking in the familiar sights and lack of anything eye-catching. Well, except for him and Yukiko. “There really is nothing here, huh? That’s what makes it nice, but there’s nothing much we can show to people from outside. Except the dyed clothes from Mt. Yasogami, or was it pottery? Oh wait! There’s the Amagi Inn! Yukiko’s family runs it, it’s the pride of Inaba!” Chie proudly declares.

Yukiko chimes in, after being oddly quiet on this walk, “I-it’s just an old inn.” Yukiko frowns ever so slightly. 

Chie turns to her with a smile, “No way, it’s been featured in all kinds of magazines as a hidden treasure." She turns back to Narukami-kun, “It’s a great inn! It’s been going for generations, and Yukiko’s gonna run it someday. Their inn tracks a lot of visitors to Inaba, it pretty much keeps the town going.” 

Yukiko flusters a bit, and her frown fades to neutrality, “I don’t think that’s entirely true.” 

Chie looks at her, then back to the boy. A smirk appears on her face, “So, tell me. You think Yukiko’s cute, huh?” 

His eyes widen, and he stays silent for a moment, as if considering his options, then he speaks softly, “I think so, yeah.” _Hook, line and sinker, baby!_

“Hohohoho I knew it!” Chie boasts triumphantly. 

Yukiko’s frown returns, in full force this time, “Come on, don’t start this again...”

Chie ignores her plea, “She’s really popular at school, but she’s never had a boyfriend. Kinda weird, huh?” Chie continues her devious teasing. 

Yukiko blushes and attempts to defend herself, “C-Come on, stop it.” She turns to Narukami-kun, blush still hot on her cheeks, “Y-you shouldn’t believe that, okay? It’s not true that I’m popular, or that I’ve never had a boyfriend! N-no w-wait, what I meant to say was that I don’t need a boyfriend!” She speaks frantically, before scowling at Chie, who’s laughing at her awkwardness. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry, but this is our chance to talk to someone from the big city, and you’ve hardly said a word! Oh, right speaking of hardly saying anything, Narukami-kun, why do you talk so- huh? Hey, what’s that?” _Is that a police barricade? What happened here?_

Chie manages to pick bits and pieces of conversation around the barricade, something hanging from an antenna, and something about a dead body? “Wait a dead body?!” Chie nearly yells. 

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” A gruff voice calls out to all of them, wait not all of them, just Narukami-kun? 

“Oh, Dojima-san. Did something happen?” He asks with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well… you could say that.” The man awkwardly scratches the back of his head. 

Chie turns to the boy with a confused expression, “You know this guy?”

Narukami-kun nods, and he leans in close so she can hear him when he says “He’s my uncle, I’m staying with him while I’m here.” Chie blushes at having his voice so close to her ear.

“I’m Detective Dojima, his guardian… Uhh well, how should I say this, I hope you get along with him. But you three really oughta stop wandering around and head home." _My cheeks won’t cool off, my skin should be feeling tingly because of the dead body, not because some hot guy just whispered in my ear! Okay, I think thinking about the dead body is cooling me off. Gah! Now I’m getting creeped out because there was a dead body close to where we live!_

Then, at that moment, three people thought the exact same thing. One, a quiet loner who has a horrible feeling that his stay here isn’t going to be as calm as he thought it was. Two, an energetic tomboy who is completely overwhelmed by everything that’s happened today. And three, a person that transferred here recently, who didn’t expect the outcome of what they did to be so grotesque, that they can’t hold down their bile, and vomit all over the sidewalk.

**_What a horrible start to the year…_ **


	2. The Channel that isn't on the Guide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chie thinks about herself.  
> Yosuke experiences the second longest day of his life.  
> Yu feels the urge to stick his hand in a weird place.

***Yu POV***

After talking with Dojima at the crime scene, the three students continued on their walk. There was considerably less talking after all that, and now they’ve been lulled into an uncomfortable silence, the only sounds being their footfalls. _This is not what I was expecting when walking home with two cute girls. Amagi’s been mostly silent anyway, but now she has an unmoving frown, and Satonaka looks like she’s about to have a panic attack. I should break the tension, this quiet isn’t helping any of us._ “So are you two-” Yu’s icebreaker is interrupted by Yukiko’s phone ringing, the sudden noise making all of them jump a bit.

She stops walking to answer, “Hello? Oh, was that today? Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She hangs up and flips her phone shut. “There’s a party at the inn that I’m supposed to be helping with, so, sorry Chie, we can go to Junes later. Be seeing you, Narukami-kun.” There’s a spark of relief in her eyes as she begins turning to walk away. _She’s probably just happy to have an excuse to get home and work her mind off of this._

Yu nods and Chie speaks after her friend, “Alright, seeya Yukiko.” She turns to face the boy next to her, “Guess it’s just us now, I live kinda close to Dojima-san’s so if you want I can keep walking with you.” 

Yu wastes no time nodding, “I’d like that.” Chie flashes a smile and they resume their walk, making some small talk but still having those uncomfortable pauses.

Yu decides to break one of the silences, “It was an interesting first day.” He mutters quietly.

Chie turns to face him while still walking forward, “I’d be kinda worried if you didn’t think today was interesting, maybe you’re some kind of bad luck charm, first King Moron, now this!” She says in an energetic tone that makes it kind of hard to tell if she’s joking.

Yu smirks, “You wound me, Satonaka. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were blaming me for this.” He teases, Chie reddens a bit at the use of her name with no honorifics, but it fades when she processes what he said. 

“W-wait, that’s not what I meant! I m-meant that you just have some bad luck!” She emphasizes by flailing her hands around a bit.

“It was a joke, Satonaka, relax.” Flashing her a reassuring smile, he faces forward, and her blush deepens. The two embrace another silence for a few minutes until nearing Dojima’s residence. Yu turns to look at her, seeing that she’s wearing a concerned expression. _She’s definitely trying her hardest to keep her mind off the body, I should repay her kindness for inviting me to walk home with her and Amagi._

“So,” he begins softly, “I wanna thank you for walking home with me.” She seems a bit surprised at the genuine gratitude, then beams at him.

“Of course! I wasn’t about to miss out on the chance to get to know the new transfer student!” She says excitedly. 

Yu gets this funny feeling in his stomach at seeing her smile, but shakes his head. “Well, I look forward to seeing more of you.” He quietly says with a small smile.

She blushes a bit and stutters out, “Y-yeah, s-see you tomorrow, Narukami-kun.”

He begins moving forward again after nodding, but theatrically pirouettes to face her, then closing some distance between the two again, she blushes from the proximity and widens her eyes in confusion. “You didn’t let me finish my statement from before you know, when you asked me about Amagi being cute.” He has this confident smirk on his face as she tilts her head, “I think she’s cute, yeah, but I also think you’re just as cute.” He says in a quiet, deep tone that makes her shiver, she turns crimson and stammers out gibberish as he laughs softly and turns to walk towards Dojima’s house. _I hope that helps keep her mind off it, plus, it’s kinda fun teasing her… she’s really something else when she blushes, huh?_ The funny feeling in his stomach comes back as he enters the front door.

***Chie POV***

_“What the hell was that about?!”_ has been Chie’s only thought since she and Narukami-kun parted ways. She made it to her house and walked through the door, only to be assaulted by Muku, the dog that she’s had since she was a kid. After being sufficiently covered with slobber, she cleaned up and walked towards the stairs.

“Oh, Chie!” Her mother calls out to her from the kitchen, poking her head out to greet her daughter. “I didn’t hear you come back, how was your first day of your second year?”

_It was really something, I got the worst teacher in the school as my homeroom teacher for a whole year, Yosuke broke my copy of my favorite movie, the new transfer student is hot, quiet, and funny and flirted with both Yukiko and me, and a dead body was hanging from a TV antenna close to the school. So all in all, with only one ‘good’ thing happening today, it was horrible._ “It was good, I guess. We got a new transfer student from the city and me and Yukiko walked him home.”

Her mom quirks an eyebrow, and a smirk forms on her lips, “Him? Ooooh, is he cute Chie?” She coos teasingly.

Chie reddening in response. “K-kinda.” She stammers out.

“Maybe you should walk him home alone next time~” Her mother continues to tease.

“M-mom! It isn’t like that, plus I’m sure he’d be happier with Yukiko walking him home…” She trails off, her voice becoming quieter after the protest.

“Chie… You’re a beautiful girl, you should have more confidence in yourself! I’m sure this boy can help make you aware of that by how you’re blushing.”

Chie reddens further, “H-he was just teasing me, guess like he and Yukiko both like doing that. I’m tired mom, I’m gonna take a bath and take a nap, wake me up for dinner, ‘kay?” Chie walks upstairs after her mom agreed, happy that she decided to drop the subject. 

_Like anyone would ever actually mean that, “you’re cute.” He and Yukiko love teasing me, I’m surprised he didn’t say that when Yukiko was with us, she would’ve piled on and they could’ve been laughing at me together. It’s only been a day and I feel like the two of them are perfect for each other._ Chie thinks bitterly as she relaxes in the tub. _How quickly he answered when I asked if he thought Yukiko was cute was a dead giveaway, he’s just like all the other guys. Except he probably has a fighting chance of dating her…_

“Somebody will notice me someday…” She murmurs before she slips deeper into the bath, submerging her mouth and curling up into herself as she sighs through her nose. She finishes bathing and goes to her room, upon making contact with her pillow, she falls asleep, exhausted by today’s events, but mostly by her self-deprecation. She dreams about some sort of castle with bright lights all around and high above, and a thick fog that no matter how hard she tries, she can’t see through.

She’s woken up by her father, who must’ve come home at some point during her nap. The two go downstairs to have dinner, some grilled steak. _Aww yeah._ It’s enough to uplift her mood a bit, so when she finishes eating and heads back upstairs, she checks the news to see what tomorrow’s weather will be like. It’ll be cloudy, but that’s not important, what is important is that the dead body was that announcer lady, Mayumi Yamano! _Didn’t one of my classmates say that she was his soulmate after watching that Midnight Channel thingy? That guy’s gonna be crushed…_ She switches off the news and pops in one of her other movies, since her poor Trial of the Dragon is in pieces.

**4/13 Wednesday**

She wakes up in the morning to her alarm, groaning she shuts it off, realizing that she must’ve fallen asleep during the movie since the main menu was still on her TV. She eats her breakfast and heads out towards school, meeting Yukiko at the front gates, they both enter their class together. A few seconds after the bell rings, they both look to the back door to see Yosuke and Narukami-kun walking in together laughing about something. _The city boys are stickin’ together huh?_

A boring school day of lectures passes, and Chie spies Yosuke talking to Narukami-kun at his desk. She hears mention of grilled steak, she inches closer to hear more of the conversation, not wanting to join as she’s still pissed at Yosuke. “I know a place where you can get some cheap, wanna go? It’s on me, consider it as payment for helping me out!” A gasp escapes her lips, _This guy! Breaks my DVD, doesn’t apologize and then offers to buy the new guy steak?! I refuse to let this injustice stand!_

Chie stomps over to the two of them, brow furrowed and nostrils flared. “What about me, huh? No apology? My Trial of the Dragon?” Every word drips with venom. Every mannerism filled with rage, enough to make anyone shiver.

But Yosuke seems more irritated than scared, groaning at her arrival. “You always come around when I’m talking about food…”

Chie turns to Yukiko, “How about it, Yukiko. Don’t you think he should treat us too?” Yosuke raises his eyebrows in a bit of surprise at the question.

Yukiko stands up and gathers her belongings before answering, “I’ll pass… I don’t wanna gain any more weight. I need to help out at the inn today, anyway. I'll see you later.” She finishes and heads out the door.

Chie shrugs but continues undaunted, “Oh well, we should get going too.”

Yosuke takes a small step backward and his shoulders droop, “Wait, do I really have to pay for two people now?”

Narukami-kun smirks at Yosuke’s plight, “You really can’t catch a break, huh? Let’s get a move on, I’m starving.” He quietly says as he gets up and begins leaving the classroom. Chie follows behind as Yosuke sighs before following as well.

The three pass the school gates and Yosuke begins leading their walk to the promised steaks. “You know…” Yosuke begins with a bit of wariness in his tone, “Steak is pretty expensive…”

Chie smiles, but speaks with a bit of aggression, “Which is why it’s so nice you’re treating us!”

He sighs heavily before looking to Narukami-kun. “Sorry man, wasn’t really expecting a freeloader to join us.”

Narukami-kun turns to him with a smile, “Don’t be sorry, if anything this is a better first impression. Buying the new kid and your friend food is a pretty nice gesture.” He chuckles as he finishes his sentence, Chie joining him.

Yosuke drops his shoulders and sighs again. “I’m gonna go broke… Oh, right! So why’d you move here out here to the boonies man?” He immediately stands up straight and asks with a small smile on his face.

“My parents are working overseas, so they sent me to live with my uncle here." Narukami-kun answers quietly.

Yosuke hums and nods his head. “I gotcha, kinda the same for me actually, only my dad got a management position here so my whole family moved to Inaba. Oh yeah, how was the walk home with Yukiko-san and Chie here?” Yosuke glances towards Chie, who’s been listening intently.

“It was pretty good till we came across the crime scene. We all got pretty uncomfortable after that, so we talked a bit less, but…” Yu looks a bit past Yosuke and locks eyes with Chie, “I still had a good time with them.” A faint pink dusts Chie’s cheeks as she quickly looks away.

It does not go unnoticed by Yosuke. “Huh? Hey Chie, why are you blushing? Somethin’ good happen yesterday?” He asks teasingly, with a big smile on his face.

Chie kicks him in his back and pushes a bit after, “H-hurry up! I’m dying of hunger listening to you two go on and on!” After grunting in pain, both Narukami-kun and Yosuke laugh at Chie’s angry awkwardness. _Steak is the only thing that’s gonna save me from dying here! They just keep teasing me, and I hate it! Well, I’m not sure if I hate it, but I definitely don’t like getting ganged up on! I don’t know how, but I’ll get them back for this! Just keep thinking about the steak, steak paid by Yosuke, free steak for me and Narukami-kun! Oh man, what was I even mad about?!_

_I’ve never been so mad! Yosuke brought us to Junes! They don’t sell steak here! Ugh, I can’t believe this guy…_ “Don’t look so mad, Chie. Once you hopped on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans.” Yosuke says snarkily as he returns to their table with a tray of sodas and some snacks.

“Still, that’s no reason to take us to your place.” Chie says with a scowl and a bite to her tone.

Yosuke gets an exasperated look on his face as he says, “Dude, this isn’t my place or anything.” Narukami-kun cocks an eyebrow, “Oh, right. This is the place my dad got a management position at.” The silver-haired boy gives a soft ‘ah’ in response. Yosuke picks up his soda and hands another to Narukami-kun, “Here, this is to welcome you to town. Satonaka, yours is on me too.” He declares with a smirk and a wink.

Chie rolls her eyes, “Yeah, I know.” The three raise their cups, and take a sip, falling into a short and comfortable silence.

“Been an exciting two days.” Yu mutters to no one in particular.

Yosuke raises an eyebrow, “Oh yeah? Apart from the murder, what’s caught your interest so far?” Yosuke keeps up the small talk, while Yu brings a hand on his chin in thought.

He smiles, “The people, no doubt. Everyone’s so… friendly, it’s heartwarming.” Chie beams, and Yosuke cracks a smile as well. _Under all that cool, quiet guy stuff, is he a big softy? This boy just keeps getting better and better…_ Chie frowns a bit at the familiar feeling of inadequacy, but sighs and returns to the banter.

***Yosuke POV***

Narukami takes a look around the food court with a calm expression, “There’s a good amount of people here now.” Yosuke barely manages to hear him.

“Right? It’s only been half a year since this place opened, but I haven’t been to the local shopping district much since.” Chie responds and takes a sip of her drink before continuing, “A lot of stores there started closing and… Oh, uh…” Chie trails off and stutters a bit, probably realizing she’s talking to the son of the manager of aforementioned business killer.

“You can’t blame it all on Junes, can you?” Sighing after not getting a response, and briefly noticing a questioning look on Narukami, Yosuke turns to see Saki Konishi, a coworker he may or may not be smitten with. “Oh it’s Saki-senpai! Be right back.” He takes a deep breath before getting up, and exhales as he stands, seeing Narukami whispering something to Chie and her laughing loudly before whispering back, to which he smirks in response before glancing towards Yosuke.

_Time for the best part of work._ “Hey, how’s it going? You look beat.” He starts lightheartedly, before noticing that she actually does look pretty exhausted.

“Hey! I’m finally on my break… Oh, what’s up Hana-chan? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?” She says in a tone that ‘could’ be taken as teasingly, so he does.

Feigning an offended gasp, but with a big smile on his face he says, “Madam, you wound me!” He drops the smile, shifting to a more serious expression after seeing just how dark those circles under her eyes look, “Kidding aside, you look down. Something happen?”

Saki waves her hand dismissively, and speaks with a sigh, “Nah, it’s nothing. Just a little tired.”

Yosuke isn’t convinced and presses on undeterred, “Hey, you know if you need to talk, I’m always willing to listen, I… wanna be there for you.” He looks away as his voice gets significantly quieter at the end of his offer, to which she giggles and it’s music to his ears, he looks back and sees her smiling ever so slightly as his face heats up a bit. _If that’s all I can do for her today, I’ll take it. That smile makes everything seem brighter._

She gently pats his arm, “I’m okay, thanks though.” She looks away with a disgruntled expression on her face, “Why’d I leave school early yesterday…?” She speaks to no one, and before Yosuke can question what that had to do with anything, she perks up and looks towards his two classmates. “Hey.. is he the new transfer student?” Saki gets up and walks over to the table, Yosuke quickly following behind and standing next to his seat. “Are you the new transfer student?” Yu nods and says something that Yosuke can’t hear, but he assumes he just introduced himself since Saki nodded in response.

“Oh, did you already hear about me?” Another nod and he gestures towards Chie, who gives an awkward wave as her greeting. _Just what did she say?_ “I don’t see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much.” At the unexpected blow to his pride, he blurts out a denial, but she continues. “He doesn’t have too many friends, so I hope you two get along.”

Yu nods and smirks, “So he hangs out with a lot of girls then?” _Wha- dude! Breaking the bro-code here! What if she gets the wrong idea?!-_

He’s broken out of his glare towards the law violator by more of what should be that musical laughter, but something makes his stomach knot when he hears it this time. She composes herself, still chuckling a bit, “As if. Hana-chan’s a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him to his face when he annoys you.”

Something about that made Yu’s smirk fade, and his eyebrows furrow a bit, “That’s not true.” He responds in a quiet, firm voice that makes Yosuke feel a little better about the whole bro-code thing. Saki laughs a bit again, and Yosuke still doesn’t enjoy the feeling for some reason- no, he knows why.

“I’m just kidding.” She says dismissively with a smile.

Yosuke laughs a bit awkwardly and smiles towards her, even though she’s looking at Narukami, “You had me going there, senpai!”

Her smile immediately gives way to a tired expression. “Welp, my break’s just about over, back to work I go… Laters!” She pumps her arm, feigning excitement, to which Yosuke laughs as she walks away, realizing he forgot to ask her what he wanted to talk to her in the first place. _Guess I’ll ask her later then._ Shoving a pair of tickets further into his pocket.

Sitting down, slightly dejected, he notices that the look on Narukami’s face hasn’t changed since she left, furrowed brow with an unreadable expression, so Yosuke decides to crack a joke. “Saki-senpai says I’m annoying, but she’s even nosier than me. She has a younger brother, and she treats me pretty much the same way…”

Chie seems to take his joke as a confession, so she smirks and speaks teasingly, “Ohhh, you don’t want her treating you like a brother huh? I get it, so that’s how it is…” She nods as if coming to a great realization, then theatrically waves her hand in the air, and speaks dramatically, “The daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain… Heheheh, the flame of forbidden love!”

Yosuke blushes at the unfortunately accurate description of a fantasy he’s had, “Wha- dude it’s not like that!”

Chie’s smirk becomes a little more devious, “Oh reaaaaally… Well, I’ve got the perfect thing for cheering up your lovesick heart. You ever hear of the Midnight Channel?” Both boys tilt their heads in confusion, lock eyes for a second before looking back to Chie, who seems pretty eager about it. “You’re supposed to look into a TV that’s switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you’re staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen… and they say that person’s your soulmate!” She finishes excitedly, voice filled with intrigue. 

Yosuke’s intrigue plummets, _Of course it’s something dumb, what did I expect coming from her?_ “What? For a second, I thought you were actually gonna say something useful. How can you get excited over such a childish urban legend?” Yosuke says while rolling his eyes, topping it off by finishing with a long sigh.

Chie bristles at the insult, glaring at him. “Childish, huh? You don’t believe it, do you?!”

Yosuke doesn’t even think about his response, “Of course I don’t.”

Chie clicks her tongue at his attitude and challenges him, “Well, it’s raining tonight! Let’s all try it out, then you’ll see!”

Yosuke isn’t too opposed to the idea, since he stays up late usually anyway, but something about that sentence stuck out… “Wait, try it out? You haven’t even tried it yourself?!” Chie flinches a bit and looks away. “Wow, I’m trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid.” Yosuke says without mercy to the freeloader.

“Oh, right, I know we talked about it a bit Narukami, but do you guys think the incident was a murder?” He looks between both of them, and Chie looks uncomfortable at the possibility of murder and Yu puts a hand to his chin. When neither of them say anything for a few seconds, Yosuke speaks up, “Ooh, what if the culprit behind it is still lurking about…?” He adds a creepy laugh for levity about the dark subject.

Chie’s discomforted expression shifts to an irritated one, “Sheesh, you shouldn’t joke about stuff like that. Now who’s the childish one?” The soon-to-be bickering is interrupted by Yu laughing softly, they both look at him a bit confused at which one of them he was laughing with.

“You two sound like an old married couple.” He’s still chuckling to himself as Yosuke gags at the idea, and Chie reddens, jumps up and vehemently denies it. After taking a sip of his now empty drink, he waves his hand to stop Chie’s protest and calmly says, “I was just joking. Wow, what a reaction.” He remarks to the both of them, still chuckling.

“All I’m saying is, you guys better try it. Especially you, Narukami-kun, after putting those thoughts in my head, ugh.” She makes a disgusted face and sticks her tongue out before finishing her drink, to which Yu smirks, and says something neither of them can hear, wincing after, and just shaking his head. _He’s a pretty weird guy, why doesn’t he just speak up?_

Yosuke stands up, “Well, we should probably head home. Apparently I have to watch a blank screen tonight, so I should prepare for that.” He says rolling his eyes and walking away. Chie yells something after him, but he just waves his goodbyes in response. 

\------

“Hey, Yosuke, your father says he needs you to work this Friday.” Yosuke’s mother shouts up the stairs.

Sighing, he gets up from his bed to open the door and respond. “Yeah, alright. After school I’ll head over.”

“Good boy!” He can hear the smile in her voice as she walks back to whatever she’s doing down there. _Not excited about working, but the sooner I get the money to buy Chie another copy of that movie, the sooner she won’t take advantage of my kindness. To be fair, I did kinda jump the gun and buy these tickets even after I broke the disc, but I won’t tell her that._ He looks out the window, still a few hours until midnight.

_Now what can I even do to kill the time?_ He yawns as he looks across the… vacancy of it all, and falls asleep.

...However, his body must’ve been more eager to look at nothing than he was since he actually wakes up at 11:58. Groaning, he gets up and unplugs his TV, looking at and listening to the spattering of rain on the window. He pulls out his desk chair and stares into the screen, looking at himself. _Hey good lookin’, you stare at an unplugged TV often? ...God this is so fucking dumb, couldn’t I just lie and say I saw it? Chie’d probably believe it, since I doubt she’d actually stay up to do this. Still... Soulmate, huh?_ He looks towards his uniform that he forgot to wash and will have to in the morning, and the pocket that the tickets are still stuffed in, peeking out ever so slightly. Sighing, he gets up from his chair and puts the tickets on his desk and throws his uniform towards the door so he remembers to clean it. 

He sits back down and stares once again, looking at his digital clock, 11:59. _Geez, is time moving slower to let it really sink in how stupid this is? I probably could’ve-_ His thoughts are interrupted as the clock changes to midnight, and his TV flickers to life. “What the hell?!” He involuntarily hisses under his breath.

The TV static is terrible, and the image it’s trying to show is blurry as hell, but he can make out a girl with long, wavy hair, brows raised in… pain? And a Yasogami uniform, but that’s it. And just as fast as it came to be, the Midnight Channel fades to the now very familiar sight of a switched-off TV. Yosuke is baffled, he can’t even make coherent thoughts for a moment, but… _The hell was that?! The rumor was true, awesome, but I didn’t even see anything! Is it supposed to be a mystery or something?! God, this is so unsatisfying, sure I made out a uniform and long hair, but that’s half the fucking girls in Yasogami! And what was with that look on her face, was she sad or something? This just sucks-wait… Long, but wavy hair…? What color was it… brown? Gah I couldn’t get a good enough look! But that face… was she… suffering? Am I imagining that it’s Saki-senpai just because I want it to be her, or was it actually her…? Why was the image so shitty?! Gah, now I’m pissed and worried, what a great combination._ Angry and concerned, Yosuke forced himself back to sleep.

**4/14 Thursday**

Yosuke walks into class that rainy morning, seeing Chie with a decently red face, and an unmoving look of confusion, as well as Yu, who’s rubbing the back of his head with an anguished look, and a wet umbrella at the base of his chair. _The hell happened to them?_ Class starts and it’s some boring world history lecture. Partway in, Yu gets asked to answer a question, and when he stands up, he stumbles and he grunts louder than Yosuke’s heard him speak.

He gets the question right, but at what cost? He falls back into his chair, breathing sharply and holding the back of his neck with a death grip. Yosuke must’ve fallen asleep at some point, since when he next opens his eyes, class is over. He gets up and walks over to the window, after seeing the rain still gently falling, he steps over to Narukami. _I’m not entirely sure how I should bring this up… ‘Hey man, remember that stupid as hell thing Chie talked about? Well it was real and I’m pretty sure I saw the girl I like on there!’ God that sounds so cheesy.... Should I bring up that I think that the girl I saw was probably in pain? Fuck it, just say the first thing that comes to mind when you start talking._

“Y-yo. Um… It’s uh… really not that important, but… Well, yesterday on TV, I saw… Oh, uh… N-nevermind, I’ll tell you later.” Yosuke chuckles nervously after he finishes speaking, noticing Narukami’s very pained, yet concerned expression.

Chie walks up to the two boys with some… embarrassment? Concern? Both? Yosuke can’t tell. “Yosuke, did you hear the rumor?” Yosuke tilts his head a bit, “Saki-senpai’s apparently the one who discovered the body.” Chie tells, pointedly only looking at Yosuke for some reason.

Yosuke ignores that she’s avoiding looking at Narukami, and voices his thoughts, “I wonder if that’s why she looked so down… She’s not at school today either…” Yosuke’s concern seeps into his voice, and he looks down sadly. The sound of a chair moving is enough to break him out of those dark thoughts, and the three of them see Yukiko-san getting up to leave. _Inn must be really busy, making her have a face like that._ Yosuke thinks, now noticing that he’s becoming a little too familiar with the facial expression of unhappiness. 

Narukami, rubbing the back of his head and tightly shutting his eyes, and Yosuke diving deeper into his worries, Chie snaps them both back to attention with the burning question, “By the way, did you guys see… It… Last night?”

Narukami winces at nothing, and Yosuke is startled out of his thoughts, “Uh… Well, what about you?”

Chie wastes no time voicing what she saw, “I did! I seriously saw a girl!... But, my soulmate’s a girl? That isn't-I mean, I'm not-well I don't think I'm-ugh...” Yosuke chuckles a bit, while Narukami just raises an eyebrow. “Her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was wearing our uniform and-”

Yosuke interrupts her, “Wait, I think that’s the same girl I saw!”

“Wait, so you saw it too?!” Chie gasps, “And we saw the same girl…? Does that mean we have the same soulmate?”

Yosuke has no idea how to answer that, so he doesn’t, and he decides to bring in the supposed third participant of the challenge to watch the Midnight Channel. “How ‘bout you? Did you see it?”

Narukami turns to look up at Yosuke to make sure he’s talking to him, “Yeah, same girl and everything. But…” Thankfully most of the class cleared out already, so hearing him wasn’t a problem, _I should ask him about that at some point-wait, why did he trail off?_

“But…?” Yosuke and Chie say simultaneously, looking at the other with slight confusion, noticing they must’ve thought the same thing.

Narukami cracks his neck, flinching in pain, “Bad idea... “ He turns to look at them again, “But… I didn’t just see things, I heard things too.” They both look at him with questioning faces, and he quietly answers. “Some voice in my head said that I am ‘the one who will open the door.’ And my hand instinctively reached out and touched the TV, and it… rippled.” The questioning faces grow more confused, but Narukami continues undeterred. “It felt like I could… go in further...like I could go all the way in. So I pushed my hand in, then something grabbed me, pulled me in… But… My TV’s small, so I got stuck, just my arm and my head got stuck, so I pushed back out with all my might, and sent myself flying into my table, head first.”

Yosuke and Chie stare at him in disbelief, then look at eachother, then back to him. They can’t hold it in any longer and both of them burst out laughing at his insane story. Yosuke regained his composure first, but still giggling in his speech, “What, did you fall asleep in front of your TV last night? Some crazy dream that was…”

Chie keeps laughing, “That’d be one interesting dream though. I like the part where you got stuck cause your TV was too small, that’s pretty realistic.” Barely making it through that sentence, she cracks up again, and so does Yosuke. Narukami glares at them and stands up, but stumbles, and they both catch him in case he was gonna fall, their laughter fading, but not their dumb grins.

“Oh that reminds me, our family’s been talkin’ about buying a bigger TV.” Chie says as she lets go of Yu’s arm, and Yosuke lets go of the other.

“Oh yeah? Well, flatscreens are definitely in these days. Wanna go check ‘em out on the way back? We’re beefing up our electronics department this month.”

Chie jumps up excitedly, “Oh, definitely! My parents don’t know anything about electronics, and I just gotta see my kung fu movies on the big screen! Hwtaaaah!” She takes up a kung fu stance that makes Yosuke think she’s gonna kick him in the nuts again, but she drops it as quickly as it came, showing no shame on her face. _God, she’s so awkward._

He turns to face Narukami, who’s giving both of them a cold stare, “We’ve got some pretty big ones in stock, bet they’d be big enough for you to fit into.” Yosuke finishes and chuckles at the idea.

Yu looks down, picks up his umbrella and uses it like a cane, then looks back at him with a deadpan expression, “Sure, let’s go.” And he begins moving out the door. Chie and Yosuke look at each other and start laughing again.

They get to Junes and go to the electronics department, and remark how big and expensive the TV’s are. Yosuke and Chie both look at Narukami, who’s looking at the large display model in front of them, and they both walk up to it and put their hands on the screen...

Shockingly, nothing happens.

“...Nope, can’t get in. Figures.” Yosuke smirks and looks to Chie.

She laughs, “This proves it. It was all just a dream.“ She turns and sticks her tongue out at Narukami, who rolls his eyes.

“So onto REAL topics, Chie, what kind of TV are your parents in the market for?” Yosuke taps Chie’s shoulder and begins leading her to the other TV’s.

“They said they wanted one that was cheap, any suggestions?” She asks with a hand on her chin.

Yosuke chuckles and straightens his posture, and speaks in the most default clerk impression he can think of, “Well, Miss, might I suggest this one here? It’s our newest model, just released a few weeks ago.”

Chie shrieks when she sees the price sticker, “Wha-that’s not cheap! Too many zeroes!”

Yosuke sighs, “I should’ve asked what you meant by cheap right off the bat, maybe over here…” Yosuke trails off as he sees something out of the corner of his eye, Narukami has his hand inside the TV they touched, and it’s not coming out the other side.

“Huh, what’s wrong Yosuke?” Chie asks, seeing his horrified face.

He stammers out, “I-is his a-arm in the TV?”

Chie blinks and turns around, “WOAH!” She immediately runs over to him, and Yosuke follows.

“Dude, how are you pulling this off?!” Yosuke is completely baffled, this is impossible, but he’s seeing it.

“I-is this some kind of new function?!” Chie asks excitedly, but also showing the same expression as him.

“HELL NO!” Yosuke shouts.

“I think I can go in even farther.” Yosuke can barely hear him over the sound of his heart beating in his ears, and when he sees Yu put his entire arm in the TV, he almost has a visceral reaction.

Chie yells in response, “Go in farther to WHAT?!”

Yosuke’s losing control. “GAH THIS IS GONNA MAKE ME PISS MYSELF!” He has to start jumping in place and constantly stepping to hold it, he can’t even hear himself anymore, or anything for that matter, his heartbeat and thoughts are deafening. _DO NOT PISS YOUR PANTS. DO NOT PISS YOUR PANTS. DO NOT PISS YOUR PANTS. DO NOT PISS YOUR PANTS._ However, his thoughts are interrupted as Chie begins grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him, but they bump into the man who’s half inside of a TV, and all fall in.

Blinding white and black streaks fly past him as the sensation of needing to relieve himself changes into one of deep, deep curiosity. Only when he can barely make out the ground beneath him does he remember, _Oh right, we fell in here. We’re falling right now... shit._ He lands right on his ass, his wallet breaking the fall, but now the pain is centralized on one cheek, rather than both, and it’s probably amplified too.

He stands up, rubbing his now very sore ass cheek, and looks at their surroundings, stage lights, he thinks. He can barely make anything out due this thick yellow fog. The air here is heavy too, but Chie’s the first one who cuts through, “Where the hell are we?”

Looking around again, they can’t make out anymore details than they already have, “I think… we’re inside the television.” Narukami says quietly and stoically.

“WHAT?! Don’t be standing there calmly while giving me crazy talk!” Chie shouts at him, to which he tilts his head.

“Man, I think I busted my ass. This hurts too much to be fake...” Yosuke says as he rubs his likely bruised butt. 

Yu chuckles a bit, “I’m so surprised. Physical comedy might be your thing.” He sarcastically says, which actually calms Yosuke down a bit.

“How’d we even get in here? I don’t see an entrance anywhere…” Chie nervously says.

“Can’t see anything through this fog.” Yu calmly says. The three stand there in silence, attempting to look at their surroundings in vain, until a strange sound brings them all to huddle next to each other, Yu taking up a confident posture. The sound is like footsteps, but lighter, as if only air is pushing out beneath the footfalls. They turn to look in the direction to see a silhouette shrouded by the fog, but distinctly not human looking. 

The three simultaneously take a step back, then immediately book it away from the thing. Running into this weird red and black vortex thing, they decide to push through and see what looks like an apartment complex, but the walls are cracked and everything else is run down. They run into a room, and decide to finally catch their breath.

“Finally, it took us forever to ditch that weirdo!” Chie states, exhaustion seeping into her words. _Holy shit, how long were we running? I feel like I’ve been losing my goddamn mind since last night, and this proves it, I’ve lost my mind, and I still need to pee._

Startling everyone, Yu gasps, “Wh-where the hell are we?” Yosuke looks up from his knees, to see a chair, with a scarf tied into a noose hanging above.

His stomach churns, and Chie speaks for him, “What the hell?” She’s looking around the walls, scratched up posters, and paints splattered all across.

Yosuke’s eyes widen at the immense pain he’s feeling, then he shuts them tight, and clamps his hands over his crotch as he screams. “GAAAAAAAAH!” Yu turns to face him quickly, and Chie yelps and looks around the room frantically to see what could make him react like that. “I CAN’T HOLD IT ANYMORE!” Yosuke begins fiddling with his zipper, but his shaky hands are making it impossible.

“W-what? That’s it? Wait, what are you doing?! You can’t pee here, this is someone’s room! Narukami, stop him!” Chie pleads to the transfer student. 

“Huh, why would I do that?” Narukami says in a monotone voice, and Chie doesn't know how to react.

Little Yosuke can’t do the job if he’s getting watched, so Big Yosuke needs to make it known, “I can’t go with you standing there!” He yells towards Chie, who just scoffs at him. “Ugh, oh man, if I get a bladder infection, it’s all your fault!”

She scoffs again, “You’re unbelievable, like I wanted to watch you anyway.” She walks out the door they came in, and Yosuke finally feels like he can quell this need. That is, until Chie screams from outside, he quickly abandons his mission and runs to help, alongside Narukami. Coming face to face… with a… mascot costume?

“What the hell is that?” Yosuke asks.

To which it responds in an accusatory tone, “I’ll ask you the same thing!”

Chie jumps back into the boys, “It-it can talk?!”

“Of course! I AM a BEAR!” It says as though that’s something that should be inherently known. “I’ve lived here since bear-ever!”

Yosuke’s getting fed up with his tone, and his appearance and well, everything really, “What is up with this guy?! He is beyond creepy!”

The bear(?) flinches and holds its ears at Yosuke’s insult, “K-keep it down, will ya? Now go on, get outta here! Go on and get back to your den!” It begins frantically flailing its arms, and something shrieks in the distance, something in the fog. It grabs something from its back and shoves it into Yu’s hands, “H-here, just take this and go! Hurry… The shadows… The shadows will-!”

Yu looks at what’s in his hands, and unfolds a pair of glasses he immediately puts on, widening his eyes. “Huh? You really put those on?” Yosuke says in disbelief, but... they don’t look too bad, honestly.

“Something’s there…” Narukami says worryingly, and the bear just runs off into the distance screaming “THEY’RE HERE!” Two black blobs enter Yosuke’s field of vision, then they jump up and start floating, and smiling with wide white teeth. As their tongues flop out, Yu instinctively takes a step back, and both of the others follow. Chie screams as one appears behind them, and then all hell breaks loose as they start running, dodging these monsters. They run without a plan, only caring to stick together, they reach the ground floor of the apartment complex and run out into the parking lot. If he wasn’t so horrified, Yosuke would be questioning why everything here seems almost normal.

The monsters catch up, and surround Chie, one of them licks her, and she faints. “Wh-what the hell is this!” Yosuke cries out.

“Satonaka!” Yu exclaims at what would be a normal speaking volume, and coughs, rubbing his throat while watching the monsters circle them.

Yosuke falls to his knees, he can’t run anymore, “Crap-CRAP! I’m finished!” Yosuke can’t hold in his despair.

Narukami only adds to it, “I-I can’t move my legs…!” The creatures all rear back, and begin flying towards them, looking away and shielding his head, Yosuke braces for the end.

...

... But it doesn’t come. Confused, he turns back towards the monsters and sees that they’ve stopped their advance, as a bright blue light begins to fill the fog, surrounding Narukami. Some kind of card floats down towards his hand, but it doesn’t touch him. “H-hey, what’s that?” Yosuke asks, to which he gets no answer.

Narukami’s mouth moves, and the air pulses, the light intensifying and the creatures backing away. He moves his lips again, the wind kicks up and the dust around them swirls around him, the light intensifying once again, and the card seemingly catches fire, but the flames burn blue. One last time, his lips move, he clenches his fist, shattering the burning card with the sound of glass breaking, the air around him becomes intoxicating, as an almost sadistic grin crawls onto his face. Yosuke can’t even think, he’s overwhelmed by the feeling that everything will be okay, and that whatever Narukami just did, it made him become… more.

***Yu POV***

_Izanagi._ He doesn’t know where the name came from, but he knows it. It’s him, and he’s it. The air behind him gets enveloped in blue fire, as Izanagi takes form behind him. His weapon, a two-toned metal blade sits atop a massive hilt, it could be used as a spear, but it’s better to use it for its weight and momentum. His body, machine-like, a metal head with glowing yellow eyes and a long headband that spans the length of his body, his legs are covered by platform-heel boots, with the platforms being serrated blades, less for walking functionality, more for stabbing and slashing with style, plus, he can fly, why would he walk?

The monsters in front of him finally start moving again, and Yu’s more than eager to see what his other self can do. One of the creatures flies towards him, barrelling towards his body, Yu’s smile grows. _Don’t think so._ He raises his hand towards the flying mouth ball, and Izanagi complies with his thoughts, delivering a kick to the monster. The creature spouts black ooze from the wound, as Izanagi’s platform is still stuck in it’s head he stomps downwards with the monster still impaled, crushing it beneath his heel, black ooze splattering every which way until it dissipates into smoke. Yosuke screams at the sight, but Yu feels his confidence swell.

He begins to unbutton his uniform, now feeling that the way he wore it was not ‘alpha’ enough. Not enough freedom. Less. One of the monsters slams into Izanagi with all its might, and Yu recoils in pain as his other self takes the hit. They pile on, the two remaining monsters smash into Izanagi, one of them biting around his head. “Get..off...me…!” Yu strains his voice, ‘yelling’ involuntarily, as Izanagi rips off the parasites and slams them to the floor, bouncing as they go before one begins resuming their flight and flying straight towards him again.

But he’s ready, Yu punches his fist forward, his other holding his aching throat, and Izanagi rears back his blade and thrusts at the creature as it approaches, impaling it. Its speed makes it slide up to the hilt and a bit onto the handle as it black ooze comes out in a geyser from the exit wound. The other monster finally gets back up and flies in for an attack, but Yu never stopped looking at it, trusting his other self that, even without looking, he’d pull through with flying colors.

Speaking of flying colors, the purple and black ball flies with absurd speed towards Izanagi, Yu flings his arm to the side, and Izanagi swings his blade around, launching the impaled monster into the other, the former exploding into a mass of ooze before evaporating just as it makes contact with the floor. While the remaining monster is stunned, Yu moves his hand from his neck, summoning the card once again, and crushing it in his fist with one motion and one word, “Zio.”

Lightning streaks from the sky as the ancient god given shape chuckles, stretching his hand towards the creature, the lightning streaks forth and strikes its target, evaporating it instantly. Yu finishes unbuttoning his uniform, finally feeling free and letting the cool air breathe through, not even caring about what he’s so desperately tried to forget about for so long. He finally feels at peace with himself, as he’s met his other. 

“Y-you… A-awesome!” Yosuke stutters out, still feeling kinda scared of what he’s seen.

“Persona… This power… belongs to me.” Yu states with a smirk, looking to Yosuke, who flinches under his gaze, _Still think it was a dream? ...Nah, fuck it, that’s worth saying out loud._ “Still think it was-”

Yu’s super awesome line was interrupted by a coughing fit from his yelling earlier. After the pain subsides, he sighs, “That was supposed to be cool.” He murmurs disappointedly.

Yosuke stands up, seemingly regained his composure after seeing Yu lose his. “Dude, what are you talking about?! That was fucking NUTS!” He exclaims while smiling brightly, before his gaze drifts down to Yu’s now open collar. _Here it comes… Oh wait, shit, Satonaka’s still out._

He turns and runs towards Chie’s unconscious body, “Satonaka, wake up.” He gently shakes her shoulder, before flipping her over and putting two fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse, she wakes up as he feels it, to which it quickens immensely.

“Wh-what happened?! And why are you so close to me?!” She turns crimson and scurries away from him, leaving his hand floating where her neck was.

Yosuke sighs a sigh of relief, “Phew, it’s about time.”

Yu softens his gaze, “You alright?”

The blush fades as her face pales, remembering the situation, “Wait, what happened to the monsters?”

Yosuke points a thumb towards Yu, “This guy slaughtered ‘em!”

She turns to him, eyes wide, “For real?!”

Yosuke beams again, “Yeah! It was awesome, what even was that thing?!”

Yu doesn’t know why he knows, but he does, “A persona.”

Chie chimes in with sound thinking, “Who the hell cares!? Let’s just get out of here before one of those monsters shows up again!”

Yosuke sighs, despair filling the atmosphere once again, “Dude, I’d love to, but how?”

Silence fills the fog, as none of them say anything. Yu snaps his fingers and gestures towards the glasses on his face, “Why don’t we ask the thing that gave me these?” He quietly proposes, and the other two don’t have any better ideas, so they begin running back towards where they first saw that thing.

“You… need an exit?” The bear asks.

Yosuke nods and replies, “Look, you seem like you know the ins and outs of this place pretty well.”

The bear flails his stubby arms, face filled with confusion, “That’s not important right now! What’d you do with the shadows?!”

No one responds, so Chie asks, “...You talkin’ about those monsters?”

The bear nods, and Yosuke asks, “What are they?”

Yu piles on further, “Did you make those shadow things?”

They get pushed through the TV, screaming as they fall upwards. The blinding white and black streaks fly past them once again, as they land in the Junes electronics department in front of the TV they entered from before. Chie landed on top of Yosuke, who’s sprawled out on the floor, as Yu landed on his hands and knees. 

“That hurt worse than the first time…” Chie mutters.

Yu looks around at the bright department store. “We’re back.” He says with a small smile on his face. 

Both Yosuke and Chie sit up and look around, seeing the familiar sight and cheer. “We’re alive!” “Thank god!” Shouting in unison, they both hug each other in celebration... and Chie knees Yosuke in the stomach, “Don’t take advantage of the situation, you big perv!”

Yu chuckles before looking to his right, seeing a familiar poster, but this time without the face being scratched off. He stands up to get closer, and Chie notices his change in mood, “Hey, what is it?” She asks curiously, Yu gets closer to the poster, and Chie stands up to follow.

“I saw this poster back in that room…” Yu says inquistitively. 

Chie looks at the poster, before looking to him, “Yeah, that’s Misuzu Hiiragi. Isn’t she the woman who’s all over the news right now? They’re sayin’ her hubby had an affair with that reporter who just died, Ms. Yamano.”

Yosuke groans as he gets up, holding his gut, “So what? How does she have anything to do with that freaky room?”

Yu puts a hand in his pocket, and the other to his chin, “Maybe there’s a connection between that place and Ms. Yamano’s death…"

Yosuke jumps up with a scream, “NO! Don’t go there! I don’t think my heart can take it!”

Yu smirks, “You sure that’s not just your bladder about to explode?” He teases softly, but Yosuke grabs his crotch and runs off to the bathroom.

“Geez, this whole thing is starting to give me the chills, I’ll see you later, Narukami, I’m headin’ home.” Chie brings her arms to her chest and turns around.

Yu raises an eyebrow, “Hold up, just Narukami? No honorifics?” Yu asks with a smile on his face, and Chie turns around, her face now sports an adorable pout, but also with a faint pink dusting her cheeks.

“You do the same for me…” She mutters, and that funny feeling comes over Yu’s stomach again. Her eyes flicker to his, then to his neck, ‘that spot’ on his neck, and she walks away. 

_Right, guess that’ll be something to talk about tomorrow._ Yu sighs and heads home, the exhaustion of awakening to his power coming in waves that never seem to ebb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm significantly happier with how this chapter turned out compared to the first one. I hope you enjoyed, and be sure to leave a comment if you wanna let me know what you think!


	3. Getting Into Character

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu reveals why he speaks so quietly.  
> Yosuke experiences the longest day of his life.  
> Chie begins to feel overwhelmed by everything that's happening.

**4/15 Friday**

Yu stares at himself through the mirror in the bathroom, the morning rain pattering against the window casting small shadows where the grey sky’s light touches. He sighs and puts on his uniform jacket, taking another look at himself, his uniform unbuttoned and exuding confidence he knows he lacks. _Think I’ll wear it like this from now on, makes me look a lot cooler._ He smirks to himself, before his eyes drift down to his neck and the small scar that makes his shoulders slightly droop and makes his lips form a straight line.

He shakes off the knotting in his stomach, _Come on, Yu. You have super powers now, there’s no reason to be insecure. You have friends now, there’s no reason to be… Friends…_ He frowns and looks out the window, the rain only assisting with getting him further lost in his thoughts. _Can I really say that we’re friends? It’s only been what, two days? Satonaka and Amagi showed me kindness and walked with me on my first day, crime scene aside, I had a good time with them, but I haven’t really talked to Amagi since, and I hung out with Satonaka and Hanamura at Junes, then the whole Midnight Channel thing and the TV thing. But… All I really did for Hanamura was pull him out of a trash can, and I walked with Satonaka under the same umbrella on the way to school yesterday. I’ve enjoyed hanging out with them... but we don’t really know each other. Would they…_

He looks back to the mirror, his hand reaches up and traces the scar just a little to the left and a little below his adam’s apple. His hand drifts up to his head and runs through his hair. _I’ll be gone in a year, why am I thinking about this? They’ll ask their questions, I’ll lie to them and these thoughts’ll be out of my head._

Apparently, Dojima got a call this morning and left the house just before Yu did. Saying goodbye to Nanako and grabbing his umbrella he walks to school. Walking along side the floodplain, watching the rain drops splash against the water, two other students pass him and their conversation interests him. “When I looked, I saw three police cars zooming by.” Yu looks up to these two girls, he doesn’t know either of them and they appear to be first-years.

The one who spoke before has a red umbrella, and the one who opens her mouth to respond has a white one. “You live by the police station, don’t you? Did you hear anything?”

“I heard some yelling, but nothing more. Total disappointment.”

Yu raises an eyebrow, and the gossip girls continue, “Geez, you need to pay more attention to stuff like that. How else are we supposed to get the juicy stories?” His interest in the conversation fades as he hears sirens in the distance, _That must be what Dojima left to do._

He picks up his pace, moving ahead of the pair of girls, “Isn’t that the transfer student? He’s kinda hot with his uniform like that…” Yu smirks and pretends he didn’t hear that.

A boring day of classes is interrupted by an afternoon assembly, he stands next to Yosuke and Chie stands in front of the both of them texting somebody, after which she flips her phone shut and says to no one in particular, “Yukiko said she’d be here after lunch…” She turns around to face the boys, eyeing Yu’s uniform and about to ask about it, when she sees Yosuke’s face. “Hey, what’s wrong, Yosuke?”

He turns to her, seemingly lost in thought, “Hm? Oh, it’s nothing…” He replies unconvincingly. Yu furrows his brow and is about to say something as well before the assembly begins.

“I… regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you. One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of class three…” Yu’s eyes widen at the familiar name, and his stomach drops as he hears, “...has passed away.” He hears something crumple to his right, and sees Yosuke with his hand in his pocket, balled into a fist and shaking.

He looks up to see a face he never wants to see again, one of pure shock and grief. “...S-she didn’t answer my texts…” Yosuke mutters before his head drops.

Chie is completely speechless and stands there frozen. 

“And Ms. Konishi was found deceased early this morning. The reasons behind her passing are currently under investigation by the police. If they ask you for your cooperation, I urge you, as students of this school, to only provide the facts.” _Oh my god, Hanamura…_

Yu’s pulled out of his thoughts by Chie tugging on his sleeve, looking away from the now empty stage, to her face full of concern and confusion. He looks around seeing that almost everybody has left the auditorium, and that Yosuke is nowhere to be found. “Come on… let’s go and find Yosuke...” She says, her voice incredibly small, he nods and turns around, and when she doesn’t immediately follow, he pulls his arm forward gently, shaking her arm slightly as she still holds his sleeve. She lets go and the two begin slowly walking back through the school.

As the two are nearing the stairs, Yu overhears two girls talking, and stops moving to listen, and Chie notices Yosuke standing outside in an outdoor pathway, holding his phone with sadness all over his face. She pulls Yu’s sleeve but he doesn’t move.

“She died the same way as that announcer right? That’s so creepy…” One of the girls says, making Chie stop and listen as well.

“Well, this time she was hanging from a telephone pole.” Chie’s grip tightens on his sleeve, and he listens closer. “By the way, did you hear? Someone said they saw someone who looked like Saki on that Midnight Channel thingie. They said she totally looked like she was in pain. Isn’t that scary?” They keep talking but Yu falls into his own thoughts.

 _Is that why Hanamura was acting kind of weird about the whole Midnight Channel thing yesterday, because he thought he saw Konishi? And she was found the same way… is there a serial killer or something? Fuck my concerns, I have to be there for Hanamura, he’s probably in shambles right now…_ The two gossiping girls walk away and Chie lets go of his sleeve with and glowers in their direction, “Sheesh, it’s easy to toss around theories if you’re not personally involved…” She says with a bite.

Her expression softens back into concern as she says, “Come on, let’s go talk to Yos-”

She’s interrupted by the object of her worry walking towards them, clothes a bit wet. “Hey.. did you guys see the TV last night?”

Chie takes a step forward, and her eyes harden as she chides, “Yosuke, not you too! Those are just-”

Yosuke takes a step forward too, and snaps back “Just listen to me for a sec!” His voice is shaky, but determined and hurt all the same. Chie takes a step back, “Something kept bothering me so I watched it again… and I think the girl on the screen was Saki-senpai…” Chie gasps, and Yu stands up straighter as Yosuke continues, “Senpai looked like… she was writhing in pain… and then she disappeared.” Yu solemnly shakes his head, and Yosuke continues, “You guys heard Senpai’s body was found in a similar situation to the announcer lady right?” Yosuke’s voice is shaky as Yu and Chie both nod, “Well, remember when you told us about that guy who was all excited about Ms. Yamano being his soulmate?” Another nod from Chie, “Well maybe… just maybe… she was on that Midnight Channel before they found her dead too.”

Yu’s eyes widen as he processes what Yosuke means, and Chie voices his thoughts, “You don’t mean… that people who appear on the TV die… do you?”

Yosuke looks to his feet, “I can’t say for sure, but something tells me… that I can’t just dismiss this as a coincidence. Plus remember that bear thing from inside the TV? It said something about people going in there, and that room with the posters on the wall… that has to have something to do with Ms. Yamano’s death. I mean… don’t you think there’s some connection there? That place has to have something to do with both of their deaths! It has to…” He trails off, seemingly waiting for someone to say anything.

“You must be right.” Yu declares, prompting both of them to look at him, Yosuke with a hopeful expression and Chie with a wary one. “I’d be lying if I said that there’s no way they’re connected, plus… when Izanagi spoke to me the night I watched the Midnight Channel, and he called me ‘the one who will open the door,’ my hand instinctively went into the TV. It can’t be a coincidence, you’re right, Hanamura.” Yu gives a reassuring nod as he finishes.

Yosuke almost cracks a smile, his eyes ever so slightly brightening, “...So it’s not just me? If there is a connection, then it’s a good bet that the two of them went inside that world, that would explain those posters. Which means… if we look around we might find something that has to do with Senpai too…”

Chie, whose gaze has been bouncing between the two boys, stares at Yosuke with wide eyes and parted lips, “Yosuke… you don’t mean…”

Yosuke nods, “Yeah, I wanna go in again. I want to find out for myself… I need to know why she had to die like this…”

Chie shudders, “Yosuke d-don’t do this… we should just l-let the police handle this-”

“You think we can rely on the police?!” Yosuke shouts, scaring Chie enough to bump into Yu, “They haven’t made any progress on Ms. Yamano’s case. Besides, even if we told them about the world inside the TV, do you think they’d believe us? No way. If I’m completely off-base with this then, that’s fine… but I can’t leave this alone... “ Chie looks down at her feet as he continues, “After what I’ve seen and what I’ve put together, I can’t ignore this.” He looks to Yu with pleading eyes, “Sorry… but you’re the only person who can help me, since you got that power of yours. I’m gonna go to Junes and get ready, I’ll be waiting.” He runs out of the school without waiting for a response.

“...I can kinda understand how he feels, but there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to get out safely again. What should we do?”

Chie turns to Yu, who has a pensive look and a hand on his chin, “...If I’m being honest… I really don’t want to go back in there.” Chie’s eyebrows rise, _What? Wasn’t expecting me to be a coward?_ “But… he’s gonna go in there regardless of what I do. And he doesn’t have a persona to fight those shadow things with. I’m not gonna let him die because I left him to fend for himself, not when I can protect him.” Yu states confidently and quietly, sticking his thumb into his left pocket and entering The Pose™.

Chie stares wide eyed and baffled, stammering out “Y-you’re serious...?”

Yu smiles and nods, “If I don’t protect people who can’t protect themselves, then I’d be a pretty awful person. Come on, let’s go to Junes, I doubt he’ll wait long.” He begins walking, just barely catching sight of her blushing, and the two head to the school’s entrance, in which Chie remembers that she broke her umbrella yesterday and still hasn’t gotten a new one, thus had to run to school today. “I’m fine with sharing again.” Yu says as he opens his umbrella and opens the front door.

“O-okay. Just don’t tease me if we bump shoulders.” She says quietly. Yu chuckles and the two begin walking in silence, anticipation building at the prospect of entering the TV again. They bump shoulders a few times, murmuring awkward and quiet apologies just barely audible beneath the rainfall.

“So…” Chie starts, “You started wearing your uniform differently…” She fidgets a bit, bumping into him slightly.

He smiles, “Yeah, after awakening to my power, I feel more… me? I don’t really know how to describe it, but I wanted to feel more free, so I did this.” His smile shifts to a smirk as he turns to look at her, keeping the pace, “You like it?” He says huskily as he bumps into her playfully.

She turns and pouts with pink burgeoning on her cheeks, “G-geez you’re annoying.” The pink fades, and so does the pout as she looks into his eyes. They flicker downwards slightly, “...Is that why you’re so quiet?” She asks softly.

Yu’s face goes neutral and he stares ahead. “Yeah, and before you ask, it’s really not all that interesting of a story.” He responds, his voice losing a lot of the warmth he was speaking with before.

“Y-you don’t have to say if you don’t want to, it’s just… been on my mind…” She turns and follows his gaze, both staring straight ahead and walking alongside the floodplain, raindrops dancing on the surface of the water. Yu stops walking and turns to her, she follows suit.

He looks around at the scenery, the greenery shrouded by grey gives a peaceful, yet foreboding feeling, and the rain gives a calming atmosphere, but also a heavy one. He looks back to the girl in front of him, who’s been analyzing his face as he’s been quiet, her face is one of curiosity and concern, moreso the former. They lock eyes, steely grey meets hazel brown, he gets that funny feeling in his stomach again, then sighs and looks away. “It really is a boring story…" He mutters, as if saying to himself.

He takes a deep breath, then exhales. "I’ve had to be alone for a long time. Me moving to Inaba isn’t really the first, I just moved around the city a lot more. My parents weren’t really home often, and you can only live off instant foods and snacks for so long, so I decided to teach myself how to cook. I’m actually pretty good, by the way.” He brags, to which she rolls her eyes and gestures for him to continue, still looking him in the eyes.

He taps the scar and speaks quietly, “This happened when I was… twelve, I think. I wanted to learn how to make curry, since it’s my favorite food, and I asked my neighbor if she could help me. Sweet lady, had kids who moved out, think I reminded her of them or something. So we started preparing the ingredients, and I decided to handle cutting the carrots, onions, potatoes etcetera, etcetera. I think she left the room or something, because I was alone when I fell off the chair.” She tilts her head, and he chuckles slightly, “I was a short kid, so I was standing on a chair to reach the cutting board.”

She smiles, “That sounds kinda cute, can’t really see you as being a shorty.”

He smirks, “Yeah, well by the next year I was already taller than you are now.”

She huffs and stomps her foot, “I-I’m not that short! Y-you’re just like… six feet tall… You giant! Wait, don’t get off track, get back to telling the story!”

He laughs heartily at her outburst, and gets a good look at her adorable red faced pout before continuing, “Okay, okay. You’re pretty easily flustered, yeah?” Chie huffs again. _Why am I telling her this?_

Another deep breath, another exhale. “Right, where was I? She left the room, and I was cutting the carrots with all the grace and expertise of a twelve year old.” _Why am I telling her this? I’ve only been here a few days._ “I pricked my finger and it made me jump a bit at the pain...”

_Stop. Why are you telling her this?_

“The chair wobbled a bit, and me along with it, trying to balance its weight…”

_Why are these people having such an effect on me? I don’t want to talk about this, I don’t. But… I can’t stop myself from talking…_

“I grabbed onto the counter for support, but I guess my hand was wet or something…”

_You’ll be gone in a year, don’t forge these connections._

“So I slipped, and lost my balance, and apparently, so did the chair…”

_This isn’t worth it, telling some random girl in a place you won’t even be in soon a story that does nothing but show how weak you are and that you need other people around to do anything is not worth it. What are you hoping to gain from this? You’re leaving, Narukami, and once you’re gone none of these people will ever think about you again. You **can’t** be close to these people._

“But I was still holding the knife, so I landed and…”

_This is your last chance, your hearts beating out of your chest and you probably can’t even hear anything, but please listen. This isn’t worth it, please listen to your own fucking head. Just build the wall back up and start walking again._

“The knife went into my throat a bit, and cut up my larynx.” Chie covers her mouth with her hands, and Yu clears his throat, even though he doesn’t need to. “It didn’t go too deep, just kinda stabbed into vocal folds a bit. I tried to scream, but couldn’t and I was in too much pain when I tried to get up, so I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed with my neck covered in equipment and completely drugged up. My dad was there, but my mom wasn’t, must’ve been on a business trip or something. Apparently, when my neighbor came back into the kitchen and saw me, she screamed, and a lot of people from my apartment complex came to help me, she even stayed until I woke up, and visited every day after that, along with some of the other folks. I don’t remember how long I was there for, just that I saw my dad three times, and didn’t see my mom at all. When I got back home, all I wanted to do was cook some curry, especially after I just learned how, but you can’t really eat solid foods for awhile after a throat injury, so a bunch of my neighbors would come over and take care of me, making smoothies, helping me change my clothes and whatnot. I didn’t really like being fussed over, but I could barely say a word, and the ones I did say were ignored because I was too quiet. I moved a month later because my dad got a new job somewhere else, and now here I am years later,” He gestures to his face with flair. “The quiet city boy.”

_Do you feel it? That lack of catharsis? The tightness in your chest? That throbbing in your head? That’s weakness, and you’re fucking made of it._

“So,” Yu begins with a smile, and spins the umbrella, “Shall we?”

Chie just kind of stares at him, not moving, still looking into his eyes as if searching for something, for words to say. “T-thanks for telling me Narukami… I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to say after all that, but… you’re really… strong to come through all that and still be able to act like this…”

Yu’s smile turns into a thin line, _Liar._ “Let’s go then, yeah?” He says as he looks ahead, returning to pace. Chie gets left in the rain for a few seconds but follows after she realizes he isn’t stopping.

_What were you hoping for, Yu?_

They don’t bump shoulders for the rest of the way.

\------

***Yosuke POV***

Chie and Narukami walk into the electronics department of Junes, walking to the display model they fell into before, Yosuke sees them first. Narukami is stone-face, showing no emotion, not too different from normal, but Chie is frowning and looking at her feet, a few steps behind Narukami. They both notice Yosuke and both their eyebrows raise, seeing the rope tied around his waist and the golf club he’s holding.

He beams, “You guys came!” _For a second there, I was terrified Narukami wasn’t gonna come. But after all he said, I don’t know why I’d think that._

Chie puts her hands on her hips, “I still really think this is a bad idea, it’s really dangerous guys…”

Yosuke bounces on one foot to the other, “I know, but we were already to come back once, right? If we go in from the same TV, maybe we’ll run into that bear thing again.”

Chie slams her foot down, “‘Maybe’ isn’t good enough!”

Yosuke holds his ground, “Look, I can’t just act like everyone else and pretend this has nothing to do with me.” He looks towards Narukami, “What about you? Could you just walk away?”

Narukami locks eyes with him, and there’s something… soft about his sharp gaze as he speaks, “No, I wouldn’t back out, but… I’m worried about Satonaka, there’s no telling what could happen over there, and it’d be easier and less risky with only the two of us.”

Yosuke nods, smiling, “I’m glad I was right about you, and I agree, it’ll be just you and me.” Chie looks frantically between the two, “Don’t worry, Chie, I’m not going in without a plan. I’m leaving you with this.” He hands her the rope, and she just looks at it, “We’ll go in with this tied to me, so I want you to hold on to it and wait here.”

Chie’s grip tightens and her eyes go wide, “W-wait, then this is a lifeline? T-there’s gotta be something smarter than this…”

Yosuke turns back to Narukami, who’s staring towards the TV. “Here, this is for you.” He passes the golf club, and it’s met with a quizzical expression. “I thought it’d be better than going in empty handed. Alright, it’s no use wasting anymore time, let’s go, Narukami. Chie, don’t let go of that rope, I’m countin’ on you.”

Narukami walks past him and touches the TV, causing it to ripple, “H-hey, wait dammit!” The boys ignore her protests and climb into the TV.

_I need answers, I refuse to have let her die without knowing anything, not when there's a chance that I could’ve done something._

Landing in the same place as when the first fell into the TV, they both gather their bearings, and Narukami puts on those glasses he got from the bear thing. The sound of those airy footsteps alert them both to another presence, “Huh? You again! Why’d you come back here?!” The bear shouts at the two interlopers, who just narrow their eyes at him, “You two seem very suspicious… As of late, someone from the other side has been stuffing people down here before the fog clears up-”

Narukami interrupts his very obvious accusation with a question, “When does the fog clear?”

The bear wastes no time answering, “When it’s foggy on your side, that’s when the fog lifts over here. But wait, I was going somewhere!-”

Narukami interrupts again, “You know what? Each time both of those murders took place, it was pretty foggy…”

The bear must’ve been getting frustrated because he shouts over Narukami as he’s piecing things together, “The two of you have figured out a way to come here on your own, haven’t you? Which means that if you wanted to, you could throw other people in here too! So clearly you guys are the culprits!”

Yosuke is baffled by the idea, “Wha- that’s stupid! Listen here, bear-”

Narukami puts a hand up, “Wait a sec, if people are being forcibly sent here, then there’s a chance that Saki and Ms. Yamano will be here too.”

“Well if they are, it’s because you’re the ones who sent them here! Come clean already!” _What?! I’ve had it with this guy!_

“Look bear, if anyone dragged Saki-senpai here against her will, it’s probably you! Now take off that ridiculous costume and show us who you really are!” He tackles the bear to the ground, who’s screaming and flailing the whole time as Yosuke drags the zipper around his head, taking it off completely…

...Revealing a void inside the costume. Yosuke falls back on his hands as he screams, the body still flailing its arms about.

“Huh, there’s nothing inside. Weird.” Narukami says stoically as he walks over and begins putting the head back on.

“Yeah weird! How the hell does it even work?!” Yosuke shouts in horror and confusion.

The head zips back into place, and the bear thanks the one who rebuilt him. “Okay, I’ll take your word, you grizzlies aren’t the ones dumping the people here. But in exchange, you’ve gotta agree to find the real culprit, okay? You have to catch them and make them stop this, please!” The bear begins crying into his paws, and the two boys look at each other and nod.

_This guy’s been doing nothing but accusing us, why the hell would we help-_

“We’ll do it.”

Narukami interrupts Yosuke’s interpretation of what their shared nod meant.

Yosuke gapes at Narukami, “What?! You wanna help him?!” Narukami nods, smiling a bit.

“Yeah, I kinda feel sorry for the little guy. I mean, look at him.” He gestures to the bear, who’s now wiping his eyes and beaming.

“You’re an insanely nice guy, aren’t ya.” Yosuke says sarcastically, earning a smirk from Narukami. “Alright, I’m in.” He says with a sigh, before turning and looking sternly at the bear, “But only on one condition! You have to help us too.”

The bear turns to him, still smiling. “Of course, and I already have something! Teddie pre-beared for something like this!” He reaches behind his back and pulls out a pair of orange glasses and hands them to Yosuke. _Why would he have prepared for this? Whatever, I’ll just follow Narukami’s lead._

He puts on his glasses, and his eyes widen. “Woah! I can see so much better now, it’s like the fog isn’t even there.” Narukami pats him on the shoulder and begins following the bear, now known as Teddie, walking in the direction they ran to last time. In time, they reach a fog covered version of the shopping district in Inaba, the ground is covered with red cracks and the air is thicker, harder to breathe.

“The last time I saw that girl was right around he-” _Wait he’s just been leading us to where the last person he saw was…_

“Yo bear!” The bear in question screams at the sudden outburst, before having a picture of Saki working at Junes being shoved in his face. “Is this the girl you saw here?”

Teddie stares for a good moment, before confirming it, nodding his head. “Yup, that’s her. I lost her when she went in that building up there.” He points to a cracked and significantly more foreboding and run-down version of Saki’s family liquor store.

Suddenly, a bunch of unfamiliar voices with no source fill the air. “I wish Junes would go under.” “I hear that Konishi girl, Saki, they say she’s working there!” “How could she do that?! Junes is destroying her family's business, and everyone else’s!”

Yosuke grits his teeth and clenches his fists, nails digging into his hands. Narukami puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes him gently, “Listen Yosuke, if any of, whatever this is, gets to be too much, just tell me and we’ll back out, yeah?”

Yosuke takes a deep breath and puts his hand over Narukami’s, “Alright, thanks man.” He turns to look at him, “Do you always know what to say?” Narukami pulls his hand back, smirks and shrugs, and turns his head to look at the Konishi’s store.

The bear jumps behind the two, shrieking. “Shadows are coming! We gotta run!” Yosuke takes a step back, looking pleadingly to Narukami, who has that sadistic smile he had the last time he fought shadows.

His face shifts to one of minor confusion, as he clutches the golf club, moving it around and changing his stance multiple times, “I don’t really know how I’m supposed to hold this…” He settles on holding it in one hand, the head facing towards the ground, his other hand ready to summon the card, as two of those creepy mouth-ball shadows come flying towards them.

“Zio.” A blue streak collides into one of the shadows, creating a booming sound that causes Yosuke to cover his ears and shut his eyes. After the ringing in his ears dies down a bit, he opens his eyes and his jaw drops as he sees Narukami moving and dodging with almost inhuman reflexes. After ducking underneath one of the shadows attempts to headbutt him, he crushes his card while sliding, and that thing that appears from it slams it’s sword down on one the shadows, and he uppercuts the other with a strike from his driver. The one his persona attacked splits in twain, causing black ooze to splatter everywhere before evaporating into black smoke. The other falls down to the ground after he struck it, so he brings his club over his head and swings down, caving it in and causing it to explode into more black smoke.

Narukami exhales heavily and runs a hand through his hair, turning to the two noncombatants, and giving them a thumbs up. _He’s so fucking cool!_ “You’re so fucking cool dude!” Yosuke exclaims excitedly, running up to him.

“Calm down, Yosuke. You’re troubling Sensei!” _S-Sensei?_ Teddie continues stroking Narukami’s ego, “Gosh almighty! You’re amazing, Sensei! I am one impressed bear! I can’t believe you were hiding such an amazing power! It’s no wonder the shadows were scared of you. Don’t you think so, Yosuke?” _This guy pisses me off so bad!_

Yosuke clicks his tongue and shoves Teddie, knocking him to the floor, to which he immediately bounces back to his feet. “Dude, you call him ‘Sensei’ then don’t show me any respect?!” Teddie gives a hollow apology, and Narukami looks towards the liquor store.

“Let’s find out what happened, but remember, if it gets to be too much, I’ll be there for you.” He smiles reassuringly, and the three head inside.

“I always wanted to tell Hana-chan…” Saki’s disembodied voice fills the spacious and cluttered interior of the liquor store, Yosuke looks around frantically for the source, he begins knocking over kegs and opening refrigerators trying to find something-anything. “...I never got the chance to say… to tell him that…” He ignores Narukami calling out to him, he has to find her, he **has** to.

“That he was a real pain in the ass.”

 _What?_ Yosuke’s heart stops and he freezes in place, looking towards the lights hanging above the scene.

“I was nice to him just because he was the store manager’s son, that’s all, but he takes it completely the wrong way and gets way too enthusiastic… what a dip.” Yosuke feels Teddie and Narukami looking at him, but he can’t look at them now, not when tears are forming at the corners of his eyes.

“P-pain in the ass…?”

Teddie puts his paw on Yosuke’s back, “Y-Yosuke this-”

Saki’s voice speaks again, “Who cares about Junes, anyway? Because of that store, our business is ruined, my parents hate me, the neighbors talk behind my back… I wish everything would just disappear.”

Yosuke’s face twists with anguish, _She wasn’t like that, she didn’t think like that. This can’t be real, it isn’t! She wasn’t…_ “It’s… so sad… I feel so sorry for myself..." Yosuke says mockingly.

_Wait, no I didn’t. Who was-_

All three turn to see… Yosuke? “Actually, I’m the one who thinks everything’s a pain in the ass.” The clone punctuates with condescending laughter.

Yosuke takes a step closer, anger on his face, “Who the hell are you?! I-I wouldn’t think that!”

The clone’s face contorts into a disgusting grin, and its yellow eyes seem to glow brighter, “Yeah, right. How long are you gonna keep deluding yourself? Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You’re sick of everything, especially living out in the sticks.” Yosuke’s thoughts drift back to the many times he’s stared out his window, taking in the emptiness of the countryside. 'The... vacancy of it all.'

 _No, I like it here! I have friends, I had Saki-senpai…_ “T-that’s not true, I-”

The other Yosuke sticks up his hand, “You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky ‘cause you’re terrified of being alone. The more the merrier, right? You’ve gotta be surrounded by people to block out the pain of isolation.” The yellow-eyed devil snaps its fingers, as if remembering something, “And what’s this about checking out this world for Saki-senpai’s sake? I know the real reason you came snooping…”

 _This is all bullshit, nothing he’s saying is true!_ “S-stop it!” Yosuke weakly demands, and his mirror image chuckles.

“Why so panicked? I thought everything I was spouting was bullshit!” Yosuke’s eyes widen, he turns to Narukami, who’s gaping at the sight before him, and the other self speaks again. “Maybe I do know everything you’re thinking, and why’s that? Because, I AM you!”

Yosuke’s legs shake, and he looks to Narukami with pleading eyes, “T-this is too much N-Narukami, h-help me…”

He’s met with silence, as Yu is stunned by what he’s seeing. The clone speaks up again, “You just came because you thought it sounded like a good time! What else is there to do out in this shithole? A world inside the TV-now that’s exciting! You didn’t have a single other reason for coming here, did you?”

Yosuke turns back to himself, not looking in its eyes and gritting his teeth, “T-that’s not true… Stop… S-stop it…”

The other Yosuke bristles, “You’re just tryna act like a big shot, if all went well, hey, maybe you could even be a hero! And that senpai you were sweet on? Her death was the perfect excuse!”

Yosuke meets his other’s gaze with a sharp glare, “That’s not true! What are you?! Who are you?!”

The other Yosuke’s disgusting smile comes back tenfold, “I already told you, I’m you, your shadow… There’s nothing I don’t know about you!”

Yosuke takes another step forward with a stomp, “Screw that! I don’t know you! YOU CAN’T BE ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

His shadow laughs deeply and mockingly, “That’s right, say it again.”

“You’re not me… You’re nothing like me!” The shadow begins laughing again, louder and louder, as the lights around them begin to glow brighter.

“You’re right… I AM ME NOW!” A much deeper voice shouts from a blinding light where the shadow stood, as black and red tendrils whip and lash at all the surroundings. Suddenly all of the tendrils whip towards Yosuke, and everything goes black.

\------

He wakes up with the worst headache he’s ever had, and his body feels like he got hit by a truck. His vision focuses on Teddie looming over him, “Yosuke! You’re up! Are you okay?”

He extends a hand, Yosuke takes it and stands up, looking toward Narukami, who’s bruised and cut up all over, “Y-yeah… what happened?” Narukami clutches the golf club in his hand tighter and nods towards something behind Yosuke. He turns to see his shadow with a completely blank face, just staring into his eyes. “You… Y-you’re not me…”

Narukami puts a hand on his shoulder, and Teddie speaks, “That thing came from you, Yosuke, you need to accept it or it’ll go berserk again…”

_But if I admit that… then he’ll know that I’m just an asshole who needed something to do… I can’t do that… I can’t let that be true…_

“Yosuke.” Narukami’s soft voice breaks him out of his thoughts, and he turns to look at him, his grip tightens on his shoulder. “You’re still yourself, everybody has thoughts like that, thoughts they don’t wanna admit to having…”

Narukami breaks his gaze, but continues on with a quiet and strong voice, “But that’s what makes you human, we’re flawed and nonsensical. Even if we hide our darkest thoughts or desires, they’re still there, you have to accept that…” He looks back into his eyes, filled with determination from deep within, “We have to accept that, we have to face ourselves.”

Yosuke looks to the ground, pain written across his face, _I’m so pathetic… someone I only met a few days ago is seeing my darkest side… and he’s looking at me with all the hope in the world. Dammit, it hurts to face yourself…_

“I knew it wasn’t lying… but I was so ashamed to admit it…” Yosuke looks to his shadow, and steps close to it, “You’re me… and I’m you. When you get down to it, all of this is me…”

The shadow smiles and nods, before it fades into something bigger. An ethereal, very snazzily dressed frog stares down at Yosuke. Two shurikens for eyes and two shurikens melded into its hands, long red scarf billows out from its neck, along with a very large golden ‘V’ that looks like a giant grin. _Jiraiya._ Glass shatters, and the figure is gone, in its place is a card, floating down towards Yosuke. “This is my… persona.” He mutters weakly before falling to his knees.

“When we heard Senpai’s voice… I wonder if that was something that Senpai was keeping deep down inside…” Yosuke laughs half-heartedly, “‘He was a real pain in the ass’ huh? What a way to find out… god, this is so embarrassing.” Narukami walks over to him and kneels down so they’re at face level, the exhaustion evident in his face, and that’s ignoring the multitude of injuries he has. “If you weren’t here, I don’t know what woulda happened, so… Thanks, Yu.”

Yu smiles warmly and stands up, offering his hand, Yosuke beams, and gladly accepts, their connection beginning to form.

\------

***Chie POV***

Chie sits on the tile of Junes’ electronics department, knees curled up to her chest and tears rolling down her face, the rope that was supposed to save the two boys lays cut at her feet.

_Stupid stupid stupid. Why didn’t they listen? They’ve been gone for so long, why couldn’t I stop them…? I was just getting to know Narukami and I screwed it up, and I don’t even know what I did wrong! And I was always mean to Yosuke… but he didn’t deserve it... all the time at least… I can’t protect anybody…_

**THUNK**

Chie looks up through blurry eyes to see a rippling TV, and two young men groaning while getting on their knees. Chie wipes her eyes, and her jaw drops as her vision focuses on, the now standing and somewhat battered, Yu Narukami and Yosuke Hanamura. “Y-you guys came back!” Tears start streaking out again, and she can’t help but sob with relief.

“Huh? Woah, Chie, what’s with that face?” She can hear the smile on Yosuke and Narukami chuckling softly.

 _Do they even know how long they’ve been gone?! And he thinks he has the right to laugh at me?!_ She picks up the pile of rope, stands up and throws it at him, knocking him down. “Ugh! The nerve of you guys! You’re such morons, you guys suck!” Yosuke’s pained face shifts to concern as he stands back up, and Narukami takes a step closer with a concerned face as well, but Chie takes a step away. “The rope got cut off… I had no idea what to do… I was so worried… I mean scared stiff, dammit! I hate you both!”

Chie runs off, ignoring the boys tiredly telling her to stop… well Yosuke at least. Even if he did she probably wouldn’t be able to hear Narukami. She gets outside, remembering that she walked here with Narukami and under his umbrella, she remembers his face after telling her about his voice, and she shakes off the idea of running back inside and getting an umbrella at the risk of seeing the boys again.

Running through the rain is surprisingly calming, and she allows herself to get lost in thought as she gets closer to her house. _They made it out… but they were exhausted and even hurt in Narukami’s case, so I was right! It was dangerous and they should’ve listened to me, what else could we expect if there’s a connection between the murders and that place? I hope Yosuke found out what he wanted to, ‘cause I’m not letting them go back in there without a fight!_

\------

 _...Today sucked…_ Chie thinks as she lies down in her bed, a movie playing in the background and notes sprawled across her desk. _Am I pathetic because I didn’t wanna go in there? They were both so gung ho about everything that I feel like I’m crazy just for even hesitating, then the second I do hesitate, they both dive in. I should tell Yukiko about this, I wonder if she would’ve gone in with them…_ Chie grabs her phone from her desk, flips it open and begins texting Yukiko.  
CS: Yukiko r u free right now?  
A few minutes pass before Yukiko replies to her message,  
YA: Hi, Chie. I’m a bit busy with work right now, but I should be able to talk for a few minutes. What’s up?  
CS: o no its okay, if ur busy we can just talk tm at school  
YA: Are you sure? If you didn’t come and say it outright, it must be something important  
_She can see right through me._  
CS: it kinda is? idk but it can wait. ill c u tm  


Chie flips her phone shut and sighs. _Murders and boy troubles, sounds like a terrible teen drama… wait a minute… Am I living a teen drama? Agh, I can’t even hold one train of thought, I need to sleep…_ Chie shoots up from her bed with wide eyes, _Wait! It’s raining, I should watch the Midnight Channel!_

Chie runs downstairs and grabs some chips and water, preparing for midnight. As the time comes, her TV flickers to life, revealing a girl with long hair and a kimono, _It’s so blurry… but it kinda looks like…_ Chie’s stomach starts to churn with worry, and she immediately tries to shut that thought out, _There’s no way… that couldn’t’ve been Yukiko…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for Yu's injury was a weird one, I wanted to combine the manga and anime adaptation's of Yu but had a thought, "what if he had to be physically close to people as well?" Manga Yu (or Seta Souji) is pessimistic and lonely because of his parents, but warms up over time. Anime Yu is quite the charmer and funny guy, but also oblivious and random. Anime Yu's biggest insecurity is abandonment, so he has an instinctual want to be emotionally close with others. I wanted to give my Yu a (kind of) realistic reason to be physically close to the people he interacts with to accentuate his hesitation for becoming friends with the others. Also because of the shenanigans of him being quiet could lead to. :) I'm overall pretty satisfied with how this chapter went, I can feel myself becoming more comfortable writing as I go on and I hope I continue to become more confident with this.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and next week we'll be seeing the hunt for studs and more emotional bombardment for our heroes!


	4. Tonight at Midnight: Snow Black!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chie steels her resolve, twice in one day.  
> Yu gets irritated by the feelings in his stomach.  
> Yosuke plays second banana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying out a new writing style, lemme know what you think!

**4/16 Saturday**

For the first time in a few years, Chie beat Yukiko to the spot where they walk to school together most days. If it were any other day, Chie might have called Yukiko to brag about winning their nonexistent race, but she already tried to call her. Four times in fact, and all of them have rung the full amount and reached her voicemail. She decides to send her another text as she starts heading to school, there’s a possibility she just went in early, so Chie starts booking it to get there on time.

Her worries fester, nobody’s seen Yukiko come into school yet, but maybe, just maybe she just went to class? So Chie runs there, pushing the door open and looking around the room with urgency, finding no trace of Yukiko. At Narukami’s desk, she sees both Yosuke and Narukami looking at her with worried faces, so she decides to walk over. Narukami stands up from his desk and speaks softly, she briefly notices that he’s bandaged some of his cuts.

“Hey Satonaka, sorry about yesterday, it was pretty insensitive of us to-” 

She cuts him off, she has bigger issues after all, “Never mind that, have you guys seen Yukiko today?” Both boys raise their eyebrows and look at each other, before Narukami turns back to her.

“I saw her yesterday after everything that happened ‘over there’ but, no, I haven’t seen her today.” Narukami’s face shifts from apologetic to one of concern. 

Yosuke decides to speak up, “I haven’t seen Yukiko-san either, why do you ask though? Something happen?” Chie’s frown deepens and she looks towards the floor. “Chie?” Yosuke asks, with concern seeping into his voice.

“Oh man… What should I do...?” She tilts her head up to look at the both of them, seeing their worried faces, “Hey, is that stuff you were talking about for real?” The boys look at each other and tilt their heads, then back to her. “You know, about how people showing up on the Midnight Channel is related to that other world.”

Yosuke’s face shifts to a much more serious look, “Oh that’s right, we were just talking about that,” He points his thumb towards Narukami, who seems to be in thought about something “We were gonna check it out later-”

Chie voices the cause for all of her worries, “I think the person on TV yesterday was Yukiko…” Yosuke’s eyes go wide, and Narukami nods with furrowed brows, “That kimono looked like the one she wears at the inn, and she wore it during that interview a few days ago too.” Narukami hums in agreeance.

“I thought the silhouette looked familiar, she was wearing that kimono yesterday too…” He brings a hand to his chin and closes his eyes.

“I’ve tried calling her and texting her but she hasn’t answered back… She never misses school, you guys, this can’t just be a coincidence…” Chie looks to the floor again.

“Alright, I think we get the picture so calm down a bit, we learned some stuff from Teddie yesterday that we think you should know, just in case.” Yosuke chimes in, trying to be the voice of calm needed here. “So, apparently, Saki-senpai was probably pushed into the TV by the culprit, and we can assume the same of Ms. Yamano, since they were both… found the same way.” He swallows and sighs before continuing, “So we should probably check in there to see if-” Chie’s eyes widen as she gasps loudly.

_He’s saying… Yukiko could’ve been thrown in there…! Oh my god oh my god oh my god this can’t be happening this can’t be happening… it can’t be…_

Yosuke gently shakes her shoulder, “C’mon snap out of it, we don’t know for sure so there’s no reason to be panicking. We check every other possibility before assuming that she’s over there, give her another call.” Chie shakes herself, and nods stiffly, pulling out her phone and speedialing Yukiko.

 _What happened to Yosuke? He’d have been right alongside me losing his mind just a few days ago…_ As her phone rings, she looks at Narukami, who still has a hand on his chin but is looking at her with confident grey eyes, she turns and sees a similar gaze in Yosuke’s brown eyes. Any relief she may have been gaining from their stares crumbles however, the second she hears Yukiko’s voicemail again. Yosuke’s eyes immediately fall as well, letting the calm mask slip.

“No way… Is she really inside that place then…?” His expression turns grim, but Narukami remains stoic and confident, he removes his hand from his chin and leans both hands on his desk, exuding an almost flippant aura.

“Is it possible that she’s been working at the inn all day? That it’s so busy she had to skip school to help? Do you have the inn’s number?” The first two questions were probably more his thoughts than actual questions, but the last one was directed at Chie.

“R-right, that’s probably it! I should have the number somewhere…” A little mad at herself for not thinking about that sooner, she quickly finds the number for the inn and calls. It rings twice before none other than Yukiko herself answers the phone. “Y-Yukiko! Thank god! Eh? Uh, n-no i-it’s nothing! I’ll text you later…” She just responded on autopilot, not even listening to what Yukiko was saying, the relief is overwhelming and she sighs deeply after hanging up. She looks towards Narukami, who’s wearing that smile that makes her face hot, “You were right, there was a big reservation and she had to stay and help out. She’ll be there tomorrow too.” Narukami’s smile stays as he nods. Chie, finding a bit more energy in herself, stomps towards Yosuke, whose relieved face shifts to one of fear as she glares at him. “You idiot! You got me all worried over nothing! ‘Is Yukiko-san inside that place?’ Hmph!”

“S-sorry, but there is a reason we thought that…” Chie’s expression stays upset, but her eyebrows raise, “We thought that people show up on the Midnight Channel because they’re already over in that world. I mean it makes sense right? People show up on the TV because they’re inside the TV. But Yukiko-san’s still here, we might wanna see what’s that about, we should meet up at Junes after school.”

The school day flies by with Chie lost in her thoughts, she joins Yosuke and Narukami on the walk to Junes, noticing that they seem different somehow. Narukami seems to be talking a bit more, and Yosuke’s a bit more upbeat. As if sensing that she was thinking about them, Yosuke speaks up.

“Right, well before we head back in there, we should probably tell you about what happened yesterday. Yu, if you wanna take the reins on this.” _Yu? They got that close in a day?_

Narukami hums, and begins explaining quietly, “So we went back in and met that bear again, Teddie’s his name. Turns out, the fog over there clears up when it’s foggy over here, and that’s when the victims get killed. But they’re not being killed by the culprit themselves, they’re being attacked by those shadows that attacked us, more namely, their own shadows attack them. Like Yosuke’s tried to attack us.” 

Chie’s eyes go wide, “W-woah what? Hang on, what even are those shadow things? I still don’t know... And Yosuke had one?” Narukami looks to Yosuke, who shrugs nervously.

“Shadows are a person’s darkest side, the side they don’t want to admit to having. We found out what we know by fighting Yosuke’s shadow inside some weird foggy version of the shopping district after it knocked him out.” Narukami states somewhat vaguely, Chie opens her mouth to ask more questions but Yosuke talks before she can.

“I think that’s more than enough about my sorry escapades, but long story short, now I got a persona too, so I can fight shadows with him.” He finishes with a smirk and a wink, and Chie nods.

“If I hadn’t seen it first hand, I’d have never believed a story like that.” Chie remarked, to which both the boys nod. _I still kinda don’t really. Even with having been there and seeing those things, it still sounds like a super out-there story._

After reaching the electronics department of Junes, Yosuke looks around with a somewhat disgruntled expression. “We still need to go inside and find out what’s going on, but there’s too many people. I forgot there was a sale in the electronics section today…” Yosuke pauses for a moment, then he smiles and snaps a finger, walking towards the display they’ve been using, “Yu, c’mere a sec.” Narukami looks at Chie with a raised brow, then walks over to Yosuke, “Try sticking your hand in and calling him over, bet that bear’s by the entrance anyway. Hey Chie, stand on his other side, make a wall with me.”

Chie shrugs and stands on Narukami’s right side, doing her best to block out the boy’s hand going into the TV. After a few seconds of nothing, Narukami hushly grunts in pain and recoils his hand out of the TV, taking it in his other hand. Chie, confused, looks at his hand to see… large teeth marks? A little blood drips out from a few of them as he squeezes his wrist, Chie puts a hand on his forearm and Yosuke looks over as well. “W-what’s wrong?!” Yosuke says a little too loudly, so Chie quickly shushes him, she looks back to Narukami who’s still nursing his hand.

“Not so loud, idiot! That’s a bite mark, right?! Are you okay?” She worriedly asks the injured boy, who looks away from the TV to look at his hand, then to her, his face shifts from one of pain and mild annoyance, to an unreadable one.

“I might be dying.” He states, with a completely neutral voice and blank face, still nursing his hand by rubbing his wrist. Yosuke snickers a bit, but Chie’s eyes narrow and she lets a deep sigh out at the deadpan humor. Narukami smirks, “It hurts a bit, but I think I’ll be alright. Teddie, however…” He says with a somewhat menacing tone as he looks back to the TV. “We know you’re there, Teddie. Can you sense anyone in there right now?” The TV begins to ripple, as a voice gets quietly projected through.

“Who’s ‘anyone?’ I’m a little lonely bear, like always. This place feels so bear-ren...” The voice says somberly, as if ignoring the horrendous pun it just uttered. Chie gets miffed by the joke and lack of urgency from the voice.

“Shut it! There’s no one inside. You’re sure?” Teddie’s voice gives a hum of affirmation, and Chie lets out a long sigh of relief. “I should probably go warn Yukiko anyway, she’s gonna be busy this weekend helping out at the inn, so I doubt she’d go anywhere alone. But still…”

The boys turn to look at her as the TV stops rippling, and Yosuke asks, “Yeah… you’ll walk her to school on Monday, right?” She nods and Yosuke looks at Narukami. “It’s raining tonight so… maybe we’ll find out more on tonight’s Midnight Channel.” He looks back and forth between them, “Cross your fingers that this is all just a misunderstanding.” He snaps his finger again, turning his body to Narukami, “Right, what’s your cell number? I’ll call you when I watch it tonight.” Narukami’s eyebrows raise just a smidge, and he reaches into his pocket to grab his phone. _Should I ask him for his number too…? Nah… he’s probably still upset about… whatever I made him upset about. He probably wouldn’t want it even if he wasn’t…_ All three vow to watch the Midnight Channel tonight, and part ways.

_…_

_...Score a hot stud…? If Yosuke was right... then…_ Her thoughts are interrupted by a phone call from the Amagi Inn. Yukiko’s parents ask if Chie’s seen her, since they haven’t seen her in a few hours, and she didn’t say she was leaving the inn. She wastes no time calling Yukiko, to no response. Texts go unanswered, calls to the inn aren’t going through, and she has never regretted not getting a boys number more than she has now. She can’t even form coherent lines of thought and before she knows it, it’s morning.

**4/17 Sunday**

Without a wink of sleep or a moment of calm, Chie runs out of her house in hopes of seeing the boys at Junes, but all she sees is them getting put into a cop car with a small crowd watching. “Hey, wait!” She calls out futilely as she runs after the car. _What the hell are they thinking?! They watched it last night didn’t they? Why would they get themselves arrested right when I need to save Yukiko?!_ She gets to the police station about fifteen minutes later to see Yosuke and Narukami talking near the front desk. “There you are! What the hell’re you guys doing?!”

Yosuke winces, “Slight misunderstanding, we’ll explain later. Anyways, something’s up with Yukiko-san!” He speaks with urgency despite how much time they’ve wasted so far.

Chie recoils, she wasn’t expecting them to have confirmation she was missing already that she had. “You guys know already? Her parents called me last night, Yukiko really did disappear! I keep calling her cell but she isn’t picking up! We have to go into that place right now!” The boys nod.

“There’s something else, too.” Narukami’s calm, quiet voice speaks up, “The police are thinking that Amagi’s gone into hiding, apparently her mom collapsed because Ms. Yamano, to quote Yosuke, ‘bitched her out.’” Yosuke waves his hand dismissively, but Narukami continues undeterred. “They believe that gives her a motive, and the fact that Ms. Yamano died just after only piles on the suspicions.” He grimaces.

Chie bristles, “What?! They think Yukiko did it?! What the hell is wrong with them?!” Yosuke shushes her at her outburst.

“Don’t snap at us! Yukiko’s the victim here, not the suspect dammit…” Yosuke’s own, albeit more composed, rage seeping into his voice as his brows furrow.

Narukami clears his throat, “Look, let’s all calm down, we need to be focused on saving Amagi, not getting pissed at bad assumptions.” He calmly says, running a hand through his hair with closed eyes. He opens them with a look of strong, confident determination, “We’re going to save her. I promise.” His quiet declaration made, both Yosuke and Chie look at him with wide eyes, that same determination slowly filling them, as well as a near unnoticeable heat in her cheeks, and she thinks she sees Yosuke blushing faintly as well, but he coughs and it’s gone.

She fidgets awkwardly for a second, then jumps a bit, “R-right! It’s up to us, that’s the important thing!” Both the boys look at her with surprise on their faces, “What? I’m coming too! And that’s final! I’m gonna save Yukiko no matter what!” Yosuke looks to Narukami, who’s still looking at Chie.

“...They just confiscated our weapons though… we can’t go in empty handed.” Chie smirks, _I finally get to show other people this place._ She pumps her fist energetically, causing them both to raise an eyebrow at her, but she just nods towards the door and starts running out, leading them towards the blacksmith. 

Yosuke looks around with utter confusion, while Narukami looks around with intrigue. “Uhh, Chie?” Yosuke slowly says, eyeing the moustached shopkeep, “W-what kinda shop is this? A-and where did you even find out about it?”

Narukami is inspecting a traditional katana as Chie explains, “A metalworks… I guess? They sell all sorts of crap, like katanas and stuff. I heard some guys in our class talking about it, saying it sells weapons and armor.” She walks over to a heavy steel cuirass, as Yosuke scoffs.

“Yeah right, I bet you watched one too many kung fu movies and got all excited, so you went to find some cool weapons you could practice the moves you saw with.” _This guy!_ She stomps on his foot and goes to look at some chainmail pieces. After recovering, he goes to look at some smaller blades. “I dunno, Chie… I still think it’s too dangerous. I know how you feel but-”

She turns and glares at him, “You don’t!” She shouts, causing the two boys to look at her with wide eyes, as well as the smith himself, but he quickly shakes his head and goes back to reading some book. “You don’t know shit about how I feel… Yukiko might die from this, for crying out loud! I’m going, and that’s that!” _I need to do this… I need to save her._ She looks at the ground, shaking with anger.

“Okay, Satonaka, but stay behind us.” She looks up to see Narukami standing a lot closer than before, she takes the slightest step back to cool her face, hoping he doesn’t notice, and puffs up her chest.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine! My reflexes are second to none!” She smiles widely, to which he softly chuckles, both finding light in this dark situation, Yosuke looking between the two with a skeptical expression.

“I don’t doubt it for a second, but you don’t have a persona, you can’t protect yourself like we can.” Narukami says, still smiling, Yosuke however, is not finding the lighter atmosphere to his liking.

“Listen to us Chie, we’re not kidding around. You don’t know what it’s like in there, and if you’re not gonna listen to our warnings then we’re leaving you out here! If you insist on coming, just make sure you have something to protect yourself with.” He says with a surprisingly authoritative voice, Chie frowns at being underestimated, but nods nonetheless. 

Chie grabs a chainmail shirt and some black metal greaves, _These should work with my kicks… It’s time to put all my training to use, finally._ She pays for herself, and the boys seem to be deliberating something before buying their items, which seem to be a katana, and a pair of nata as well as two chainmail shirts. “You guys all set?”

Yosuke looks to her with an exasperated face, “We’ll just get picked up again if we walk outside with all this gear. That’s why we got taken in in the first place. But a bag full of a bunch of metal clinking around is still gonna draw attention…” She looks at him with a raised brow.

“Why not conceal them under our uniforms? I don’t think people would notice.” She says blankly, Yosuke looks at her with a condescending look.

“That’s… actually not that bad of an idea. Let’s try that.” The condescension that filled his voice and face shifted to one that seems and sounds impressed. “Let’s all meet up at Junes then, people might get suspicious if they see a bunch of kids in uniform on a Sunday, but it’s less likely if we’re alone till we meet, so let’s split up.” Narukami, who’s buying their gear with Yosuke’s money, nods, “Alright, see you guys there.” Yosuke says, taking his gear and heading out.

Narukami turns to her, once again, a lot closer to her than she thought, _How small of a store is this?!_ “We’ll save her, I promise.” She nods as he finishes and he heads out. Chie steps outside a moment later, momentarily blinded by the difference in light from inside the metalworks to the outside. She begins walking home to change into her uniform. _I’ll worry about if he’s still mad at me after I save Yukiko, she needs me right now._ Getting home and changing into her uniform, she lies to her mom, saying that she’s putting on the uniform to look for Yukiko at school, and leaving before her mom can ask anymore questions.

She arrived a little before Yosuke, with Narukami nowhere in sight. He looks at her with worry stitched across his face, “We really stick out like this.” He sighs, gesturing to their uniforms.

She looks around the fairly empty food court, checking to see if anyone’s looking at them. Not finding anyone, she turns to him and says “Nobody’s batting an eye, relax. We just need to focus on saving Yukiko.” She swings her legs idly in her chair.

“About that...Ya know, it’s not too late to-” He starts, his voice filled with concern, but she’s having none of it.

“I’m going!” She hisses, making him recoil slightly. “She’s probably scared out of her mind, all alone! Nothing's gonna stop me from saving her, nothing.” She emphasizes her last word, which makes him sit up straighter.

“Fine, but don’t push yourself, got it?!” He commands angrily as footsteps approach. They both turn to see Narukami walk up to their table, he says something, but the music at Junes is too loud, he winces and gestures his head towards the store. Yosuke nods and stands up, Chie following suit. “You better stay behind us, like he said, okay?” Yosuke warns, Chie huffs and just walks into the store. _I’ll make you smile again, Yukiko, I promise._

***Yu POV***

Going through the TV, the trio finds themselves back at the familiar exit point they’ve used thus far. They look around, seeing Teddie facing away from them, shaking his head vigorously. Chie speaks up, squinting to see through the fog. “Woah, it really is that bear from last time…” Yu pushes up his glasses and nods.

“What’re you doing?” Yosuke asks Teddie, who doesn’t turn around as he answers.

“Can’t you tell? I’m thinking about stuff…” He says vaguely. _Oh right, from what I remember, after fighting Yosuke’s shadow, Teddie asked a bunch of questions about himself that neither of us could answer. He’s probably been thinking about himself since then._ The bear speaks up again, “I’ve been deli-bear-ating over it for a long time now.” Yu just closes his eyes at the horrible pun, as Yosuke groans loudly, and Chie begins tapping her foot, Teddie seemed to take those noises as a positive response. “Hey, that wasn’t a bad joke, huh?” He laughs to himself a bit, and no one says anything, the three humans look between each other, and Yosuke decides to break the silence.

He clears his throat, “So did you find anything out then? Honestly, it’s probably useless to think about it too much. I’ve seen the inside of your skull, and it was empty.” Teddie turns around and furiously stomps toward Yosuke, glaring at him.

“How rude!” The bear stares for a moment, then drops his glare and looks to the ground, “You’re right, though. I try and try but nothing comes out of my head.” Chie stops tapping her foot, and stomps it to the floor.

“Will you guys shut up?! Now’s not the time for stupid jokes!” She settles her glare on Teddie, speaking with irritation encompassing her face and voice, “Listen, someone came here yesterday, right?”

Teddie does not seem to grasp how angry she is, “Wow! There’s a girl with a better nose than me!? What’s your name, miss?” _Miss?_ Chie’s irritation morphs into confusion at the sudden topic change.

“M-miss? Uh… I’m Chie. But never mind that! Tell me more about this ‘someone’!” Teddie nods and bounces a bit, beaming before speaking.

“I think it happened a little while after I talked with you guys. After that, it felt like someone was here.” The trio stands to attention as he points to somewhere behind them, “The presence is over that way. That’s probably where they are.” They all look in the direction he points, and Chie begins running. _So much for staying behind us…_

The four reach their destination, a massive castle with a red and black vortex for a front gate. Chie squints, then her eyes widen. “What the- a castle?! Ya think this is the same place they showed on TV last time?”

Yosuke turns to Teddie, “You’re positive that no one’s behind a camera for that program?” Teddie looks at him with utter confusion.

“Program…? I don’t know. Maybe people on your side can see stuff in this world. That might be it. And like I told you before, it’s only me and the shadows here! There’s no ‘camera’ stuff going on. This world has been like this since the beginning.”

“‘Since the beginning?’ That’s where you lose us.” Yu speaks up, Teddie shrugs.

“I dunno… Can you guys explain everything about your world? I’ve never seen this ‘program’ thingy before so…” Yu puts a hand to his chin, and Chie voices his thoughts.

“Well… Is that really what’s happening? Are we really looking into this world? Because the first time Yukiko showed up on that channel was before she disappeared. Doesn’t that seem off?” She turns to Yu and Yosuke, “I mean, Yukiko. Of all people, saying stuff like ‘score myself a hot stud’? That’s not like her at all!” Yu shrugs and Yosuke nods as Teddie turns to look at Chie with curiosity.

“‘Score’? ‘Stud’?” His questions go unnoticed as the three continue their thought process.

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either… Yukiko-san would never say anything like that.” He turns to look at Yu with a questioning expression, “I wonder… Is this kinda like what happened to me last time?”

Teddie bounces up and down to get their attention, “There’s a lot I still don’t get. But after hearing your story… I think that ‘program’ happens because of the person who appears on it.” When no one says anything for a few seconds he looks down and kicks a stray rock, “...Or something like that…”

“You think she’s producing the show herself, then?” Yu asks, to which the bear looks up and smiles, nodding. Yu runs a hand through his hair and sighs, “This is so fucking confusing.” He swears under his breath. 

Chie breaks the confused silence, “So um… You feel Yukiko’s presence from inside?”

Teddie nods, “I’m pretty sure.” He steps closer to Chie, who takes a step back with a skeptical look, “So, um… What’s this about ‘scoring with a hot stud’ thing?” Yu sighs at his lack of urgency.

“Yukiko’s here… I’m going on ahead!” Chie shouts, running off into the black and red portal before they can stop her.

“Chie, don’t go alone!” Yosuke yells after her, he turns to Yu, who is exceedingly pissed. “C’mon we have to go after her, she’ll die without us.” Yu nods and runs into the castle, followed by Yosuke and Teddie.

 _Why the fuck isn’t she listening to a word we say?! We made it very clear how dangerous it is, and that without a persona, she’s a sitting duck. So why is she so god damn gung ho about throwing herself into the fire. It’s almost like she’s blinding… herself from danger… for her…_ A new feeling settles into Yu’s stomach, an uncomfortable one. He shakes his head, but the feeling stays. He looks to Yosuke, running through these regal halls with weapons drawn, who has a bewildered look.

“What’s wrong, Yosuke?” Teddie asks, probably noticing Yosuke ever so slightly slowing his pace.

“You… hear that right?” He looks at Yu, who tilts his head. “The music?” Yu ‘ah’s’ and nods.

“Yeah… I noticed after I got home the night after awakening to Izanagi, I remembered hearing music while I was fighting and walking around this world, but it’s completely sourceless… Pretty good music though.” He comments.

Suddenly, a large puddle of black sludge appears in front of them. It begins to writhe, and a pale white mask materializes, as well as two arms that begin reaching out to them. Yu immediately slashes one of the arms with his new weapon, and the sludge begins to convulse, changing into this large black and red fish with blue fins, but it’s body is segmented, with nothing holding it together. The mask also changes, becoming a small, magenta masquerade mask.

“Yosuke, look out!” Teddie calls out, as the shadow swims through the air, barreling towards Yosuke at an unprecedented speed. Yosuke prepares himself, and just as the shadow is about to make contact, he simply sidesteps, leaning back lazily to avoid the fin as well. He looks to Yu in astonishment at his new capabilities, and Yu nods, tapping his foot to the rhythm of the song that’s now playing.

The shadow rears itself up for another attack, before Teddie calls out again, “It’s weak to wind!” Yosuke jumps up, his card appears in the air above him, the Magician, as Igor called it. He acrobatically jumps and throws his fist into the card, shattering it and summoning the ninja frog himself, Jiraiya.

“Garu!” Yosuke shouts, as Jiraiya spins his shurikens and creates a gale force wind beneath the shadow. The shadow is buffeted by the wind and is spun until it falls to the floor, completely vulnerable for a finishing blow. Yosuke looks to Yu, who has a confident grin, and says “Should we show em’ who’s boss?” Yosuke flashes his own grin, and Yu nods. The two run up to the shadow, unleashing a relentless flurry of strikes until the shadow bursts into a puff of black smoke, dropping some money onto the floor.

Two transparent cards float down to Yu, and he remembers what Igor told him today when he entered the Velvet Room and ‘having the pleasure of meeting Marie’, quote Margaret. “When you defeat an enemy, the seeds of possibility you attain will appear before you as cards. Master your fear and reach out to them.” _This is what he meant? Hm? Is this… another persona?_ He chooses one of the cards, and the other fades out of existence. He feels a new presence in his mind and heart, another him, aside from Izanagi. _Ukobach? God, you’re ugly._ Yu shakes his head and looks to Teddie.

“Thanks for the support out there, keep it up.” He smiles. Teddie beams and nods happily.

“You’re right.” Yosuke calls out, “The music’s pretty damn good. I feel pretty damn good, too! It’s like everything’s been jacked up a notch!” He jumps in place, a decent bit higher than he should be able to.

“Yeah, I think personas affect our physical states too. But enough fun times, we gotta catch up to Satonaka, these shadows definitely look stronger than ones I fought before.” Yu says before he begins running down the hall, quickly followed by the others. After cutting through some other shadows, they run up a flight of stairs, finding a large wooden door shut in front of them.

“There she is! Chie-chan is in there!” Teddie shouts, the two boys look at each other, nod and push open the door, finding Chie standing in the middle of a large room looking up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the flames somehow illuminating the entire room as the only source of light.

The boys jog towards her, before a sourceless voice fills the room. “She said that red looks good on me…” Yukiko’s soft voice speaks, causing the boys to all look around in alarm.

“Yukiko-san!?” “Amagi?” Yu and Yosuke call out simultaneously, Yu coughing after raising his voice. 

“I always hated my name… Yukiko… ‘Snow’... Snow is cold and it melts quickly… It’s transient… worthless… But it’s perfect for me, apart from inheriting the inn, I’m worthless… Still… Chie told me that red looks good on me.” She finishes with a tinge of happiness in her tone. That feeling slowly ebbs back into Yu, significantly fainter than before, however.

“Are these… Yukiko-sans inner thoughts? I remember hearing Saki-senpai’s too…” Yosuke says, grimacing at the memory.

Teddie hums in agreeance, “Yeah. This castle is probably here because of this Yukiko person.”

Her voice fills the room again, somber and gentle, “Chie was the only one who gave my life meaning… She’s bright and strong, and she can do anything… She has everything that I don’t… Compared to Chie… I’m… I’m…” Chie’s body straightens, but Yu can’t tell why. “Chie protects me… She looks after my worthless life… and I don’t deserve any of it… Chie is so kind…” Yukiko’s voice trails off and fades, leaving them in silence.

“Y-Yukiko, I-I…” Chie stammers, but is too shaken to form a sentence, she composes herself to speak.

“‘Chie’s so kind,’ huh? What a joke.” Chie says mockingly… wait, no, she didn’t say that. Everyone looks towards where the voice came from, seeing a figure appear out of thin air, with a familiar pair of golden eyes, there stands… Chie. Teddie’s feet stomp into the ground, attempting to take a scary stance, as Yu and Yosuke ready their weapons.

“It’s just like Yosuke!” Teddie shouts, “She’s lost control over her suppressed self! Now it’s a shadow!” Said shadow’s face contorts into a grotesque smile, staring at her other self.

“Are we talking about THAT Yukiko?! She says I’m protecting her?! She says she’s worthless!” The shadow chuckles maniacally, “That’s how it should be, right?”

Chie seems completely befuddled by the shadow’s words, “W-what are you saying?!”

The shadow’s smile grows, and its eyes shimmer a little brighter, “Yukiko’s soooo good looking… sooo fair-skinned… sooo feminine… She’s the one all the guys drool over. When Yukiko looked at me with such jealousy… Man, did I get a charge out of that!” The smile changes to a scowl instantly and unnaturally, “Yukiko knows the score. She can’t do anything if I’m not around. I’m better than her… much… MUCH better.” The shadow spits her words.

Chie shakes her head and stomps her feet, “No! No, I-I’ve never thought that!” _Shit, she’s on track to give that thing all the power in the world._ Yu’s pulled out of his thoughts by Yosuke nudging his arm with a scared face.

“W-what should we do?” He asks, Yu looks to the girl in front of them, that feeling in his stomach seemingly settling in for the duration of his time here.

“We need to protect Satonaka.” Yu says without looking back to Yosuke, taking a step forward. Chie turns around, with horror all over her face.

“N-no, don’t come near me! Don’t look at me!” Fear and embarrassment ooze out of her words as he takes another step, Yosuke and Teddie following slightly behind him.

Yu takes a deep breath, “Satonaka, you need to calm down-”

She bristles, her brows furrow in anger, but the fear stays on her face, “NO! No… this isn’t me!” Yu’s eyes widen and he tightens his grip on his blade again after hearing that.

“W-WAIT! Don’t say anything else like that, Chie!” Yosuke shouts, to which Chie shakes her head in response.

The other Chie laughs sickeningly, “That’s right. I’m the one who can’t do anything alone…” The shadows eyes flicker to Yu, then back to Chie. “I can’t win as a girl, let alone as a person… I’m pathetic. But Yukiko… She depends on me…” The shadow’s smile grows, as the eyes shine once again. “That’s why she’s my friend… I’ll never loosen my grip on her… She’s too important to me.” It speaks slowly, each word dripping with malice.

Chie turns back to face her other slowly, “N-no… that’s not h-how I think of her…” Her voice is small, and the shadow laughs loudly, holding its stomach as if in pain from enjoyment.

“So, you’re just gonna turn your back and deny me again?” The shadow’s smile fades into neutrality, the air becoming heavier. “But things are different now. When the time comes… I’ll be the one left standing.” The face morphs into a sickening smile, “But you won’t mind right? I’m still you!”

Chie stomps her feet, “Shut up! You’re…” Yosuke shouts, begging her not to say those next words, but his voice falls on deaf ears. “YOU’RE NOT ME!” She shrieks, hatred spilling out. The shadow laughs, it’s voice becoming deafening as it fills the space around them. Black and red smoke begins to billow out from the shadow, before encompassing it completely. Black tendrils lash out from the smoke, knocking Chie back to the boys, staring in horror, she scurries behind them. The smoke plumes burst out with a gust of wind, revealing what could only be described as a yellow-clad dominatrix. It sits atop multiple girls in Yasogami uniforms, each one shackled with chains that the shadow holds in its hand. Its head flows with beautiful black hair, but at each tip is a serrated blade, eager to cut into flesh.

Yu takes a step forward, that feeling in his stomach a constant, as he looks at Chie’s shadow taken form. _Fuck whatever it is I’m feeling right now, I’m gonna make this dominatrix submit._ “Teddie, protect Satonaka and provide support.” Teddie nods, pulling Chie further away from the action to safety. “Yosuke, let’s save her.” 

Yosuke looks at him, readies his blades and smirks. The two charge towards the shadow, dodging and ducking beneath the blades, some cutting slightly through the uniform and onto the surface of skin. They both smash their cards, summoning their other selves, Izanagi and Jiraiya. Izanagi cleaves through some of the hair and a little into the body before one of its chains wraps around his sword and flings him backwards.

“Gimme a boost here, Jiraiya!” Yosuke shouts to his persona, who spins his shurikens, creating a gale beneath Yosuke. 

Yosuke jumps, the wind boosting the height of it drastically, peaking at about a head above the shadow. He readies his blades, and twirls his body sideways, making himself a pinwheel of slashes. The shadow’s attempts to stop him fail, as he cuts through the hair before the blades at their tips can reach him. His blows finally connect with her body, slashing into her multiple times before he lands, he jumps backwards to safety. The shadow roars in pain.

“What are you doing?! Protecting the ‘real me?!’” The shadow shouts, to which both the boys scoff. Yosuke turns to look at Yu, smiling brightly.

“Did you see that shit dude?! I was awesom-HRGH!” A blinding light and a deafening boom fills the air as Yosuke is hit by a lighting bolt, knocking him over. 

“Yosuke, look out! Your persona is weak to lightning!” Teddie shouts from behind.

“Looks like you won’t understand without a little pain.” The shadow says menacingly. She rears her hands back, and the strands of hair dart towards Yosuke, stabbing into him. He screams in agony as a bit of blood splatters out from the wounds, before a dim yellow light envelops him.

He tries to stand up, but he keeps stumbling. _What the hell did it just do?!_ Yu summons his card, shattering it in his hand, “Zio.” A bolt of blue lightning slams into the shadow, it recoils with a grunt, laughing as it corrects itself.

“How lame! You’re both so deadly serious, and we’ve only gotten started!” The shadow goads.

“Sensei! She’s weak to wind! Snap Yosuke out of his dizzy spell and get him on that!” Teddie calls out, nodding, Yu runs over to Yosuke, jumping over and ducking under the shadow’s attacks. Yu slaps Yosuke, who puts a hand over one of his wounds, and a soft green light envelops him. The wounds close, leaving only torn fabric and faint scars in their places.

“I got this, Yu. Get ready for a follow up!” Yosuke stands up, and jumps in the air, punching his materialized card and calling another gust of wind.

The shadow attempts to defend itself from the impact, beginning to create a wall made of translucent green light. “Like hell that’ll happen.” Yu snarls, calling forth a different card. “Ukobach.” The green imp with a flowing blond mane appears behind him, wielding a spoonful of fire. “Agi.” Yu calls, and Ukobach reels back, flinging a ball of fire into the shadow’s hair, setting it ablaze and distracting it long enough for Yosuke to launch his attack.

“You have another persona?! Shit, right! Garu!” Jiraiya hurls his winds into the shadow, causing the girls holding her up to fall over, knocking her to the floor. “Let’s finish this!” He runs up towards the shadow, Yu following suit.

Yosuke and Jiraiya unleash a hail of blows that leave the shadow dazed, black ooze and smoke pouring out from the wounds. The shadow falls off of her human throne completely, leaving her head vulnerable, lying against the red carpet of the chamber. “Izanagi!” Yu strains to shout, summoning his other self, rearing up an overhead strike, as he prepares a horizontal strike. The shadow looks up at them, as Izanagi slams his blade into her back, and Yu’s slashes across her head. Black smoke pours from the wounds, as the cries of defeat echo from the plumes.

The boys step back, exhausted, look at each other, and nod. They walk back towards Teddie and Chie, who’s sitting on the floor with a face mixed with shame and terror. “Chie, are you okay?!” Yosuke asks between heavy breaths.

“W-what happened...?” She stands up slowly, stumbling slightly before Yu catches her arm, that feeling in his stomach fading ever so slightly. Chie looks away from them, towards her shadow, with a glare. “What’s the matter…? Got nothing to say anymore?” She says weakly, almost too tiredly to show the anger that remains. 

“Stop it, Chie. It’s all right…” Yosuke says, his breathing still ragged. Chie turns to look at him with rage on her face, but her eyes reveal the exhaustion and shame she’s feeling.

“You’re more than that thing, Satonaka. You’re… stronger than it.” Yu softly says, she turns to look at him as she processes what he said, and her anger falls, revealing the sadness beneath.

“...Strong… B-but I…” She stammers, looking at the floor.

“He’s right… I went through the same thing. So I can understand… I mean… Everyone has a side like this…” Yosuke states. Yu swells with pride, happy knowing that his words left a deep impression on Yosuke.

Chie looks at the two of them, lingering on Yu, “...Strong…” She turns around to face her shadow, walking towards it. “Yeah… I kinda get it now. You are me… A side of me I couldn’t forgive… That I tried to ignore. But you still exist. You’re a part of me…” 

Her other self nods, before blue flames engulf it, revealing it’s true form. A female warrior wielding a two-headed naginata with red hot blades, wearing a skin-tight yellow jumpsuit with black stripes on the sides of the arms and legs. A white metal helmet and faulds are the only armor it wears, but it matches with the white leather gloves and white leather boots she wears. The figure disappears, turning into the Chariot Arcana card, which floats into Chie. 

_That’s a badass looking persona._ The two boys drag themselves over to her, completely exhausted, and Teddie follows. “I… Um, it’s true that a part of me feels that way… But I wasn’t lying about being friends with Yukiko…” She defends weakly, also exhausted.

Yosuke smirks and nudges her shoulder, “Like we didn’t know that already.” She smiles faintly, her knees wobble and her legs give out beneath her. “H-hey Chie!” Yu catches her arm before she falls to the floor, ignoring how that uncomfortable feeling in his stomach amplified when he got closer to her.

He wraps her arm around his shoulders to help her walk, “Are you okay?” He asks, now ignoring the more pleasant feeling that has also decided to take root in his stomach for whatever reason.

She leans on him, a very faint pink dusting on her cheeks, “I’m okay… just a little tired…”

Yosuke smirks at Yu, before his expression turns serious. “You can use the same power we have now.” Chie looks at him in confusion, but before she can ask whatever she was gonna ask, he addresses Yu. “Hey, what should we do?”

Yu looks Yosuke up and down, seeing his tired state, as well as his own. Then he looks to Chie, who’s already looking at him. Both the feelings in his stomach double in effect, leaving him feeling incredibly conflicted. He quickly looks away, not noticing how hot his face feels, “Let’s head back for today. We’re all hurt and exhausted.”

Yosuke chuckles, “And apparently flustered.” That makes Yu notice the heat, which only makes it worse, but Yosuke continues. “You’re right though, we should head back home and recuperate.”

Chie shakes slightly against him, “I-I never said I needed a break! I can still… keep going…” Teddie runs up to stand in front of them with a stern expression.

“Don’t overdo it, Chie-chan!” Chie grumbles, and Yosuke steps closer too.

“It’s not that we don’t think you can… It’s just, we have to save Yukiko-san, no matter what. Now that you have the power, you can fight with us! It’d be much better for us all if you had all your strength back.” Yosuke says, smiling.

“But Yukiko’s still in here isn’t she?! I-I… If those were Yukiko’s true feelings... then I have something I need to tell her. I’m not as strong as she thinks! It’s because she was with me…” She looks to the ground, “Because we were always together, I was able to act that way. If we weren’t, I’d…”

The unpleasant feeling in his stomach pulses for some reason, making him want to help her to stand on her own, so he doesn’t have to be so close to her. But he attempts to ignore that, “I promised you, didn’t I? I said we’d save her, but we need you for that, and I don’t think you can fight right now, seeing as you can barely stand.”

Teddie bounces up and down happily, “You need to get your strength back, then you can tell her! Yuki-chan’s normal. The shadows don’t attack normal people, they only attack when the fog lifts here.”

“So then Amagi will be safe until then, right?” Yu asks, to which Teddie nods. 

Chie looks between them, confused. “Teddie said that the weather here is the opposite of our world. When it fogs over in our world… that’s when it’s clear here, and that’s when the shadows attack their victim. So even if we leave for awhile, Yukiko-san won’t be in danger until the fog starts to cover Inaba. I’m sure of it, it was the same way for that announcer and Senpai…”

“So… they were killed by their other selves?” Chie asks, to which all three nod.

“It usually fogs over after it rains, but it’s been sunny lately. I don’t think it’s gonna rain for awhile, so she’ll be safe for awhile.”

“But… but I can’t turn back now! We’ve come so far! She’s all alone, she must be so scared!” She shouts in protest and worry.

Yosuke bristles, “We only got in this mess because you ignored us, so please just listen! If we push ourselves too hard and get wiped out, who’ll save Yukiko-san then?! We can’t fail, no matter what. Am I wrong?”

She says nothing and looks down at her feet, Yu begins walking and the rest follow, but Chie doesn’t even try moving her legs. “I’m sorry about before… I shouldn’t have rushed in like that by myself…” She says softly, making the pleasant feeling pulse.

“No you shouldn’t have… We’ll go in together next time.” Yu says quietly in response, and begins walking again. This time she moves along with him, and they escape the castle, vowing that the next time they come in, they’re leaving with the princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter's definitely gonna be a bit shorter, but we'll be saving Yukiko! I'll be skipping some days, save for important social links if Yu or the person who's POV it is is in the scene. I think this definitely reads nicer, but I've always written in paragraphs, so I'm getting used to this.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you think!


	5. The Televised Castle Raid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Investigation Team decides to rush through the dungeon in one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, our first "only one POV" chapter!  
> There will be a few chapters like this, and it won't always follow Yu, I hope you enjoy.

**4/18 Monday**

Yesterday was… eventful to say the least. After fighting Chie’s shadow, the group went back to the entrance of the TV world, where Teddie gave Chie a pair of thick framed yellow glasses, Yu was appointed leader of the Investigation Team, proposed by Yosuke to find out who committed the murders. Yu feigned reluctancy, and accepted the role as leader, happy for a chance to be depended on. Yosuke took the mantle of advisor, Teddie the navigator, and Chie the enforcer. Vowing to enter the TV whenever possible and to never go in alone, they left and retired for the evening.

Yu runs a hand through his hair on his way to school, a thoughtful expression on his face. _The hell’s going on with me lately? I wanted to think about the case some more when I got home, but all I ended up doing was thinking about what happened yesterday with Satonaka’s shadow. Did all she want was someone to rule over? To completely control Amagi? Or was there something more...?_ The unpleasant feeling returns to his stomach. _‘Because we were always together...’_ The feeling pulses, and he shakes his head. _I don’t… like whatever this is. I should focus on something else…_

“Yo, Yu!” As if a god heard his thoughts, squeaky wheels of a bicycle signify Yosuke’s coming approach. He slows to match Yu’s pace. “How’d ya sleep?”

Yu chuckles, “Barely, kept thinking about what Teddie said about Amagi possibly producing the show herself.” He lied. Yosuke hums in agreeance.

“Me too, there’s so much that we don’t know yet. We need to save Yukiko-san as fast as possible, maybe she’ll remember who threw her in the TV!” The two boys enter the school, walking to their lockers to change shoes. Yosuke finishes and walks over to Yu, who’s just about to open his locker, when Yosuke sees a little white piece of paper sticking out of Yu’s locker. “Oh, what’s this?” He smiles deviously as he pulls from underneath, revealing a small folded paper with a pink heart on it. “Only been here a week and it looks like you’ve already got an admirer.”

Yu rolls his eyes, completely disinterested at the prospect, and opens his locker, causing another fifteen love letters to fall out onto the floor. Yosuke’s jaw drops, as well as a number of other students around them. Yu sighs and changes his shoes. “Uhh, dude? You’re not gonna acknowledge all this?” Yosuke asks, befuddled.

“I straight up only know three people that go here, Yosuke. None of those are from people who know anything about me. I’m not interested.” Yu says quietly, closing his locker and beginning to head to class.

“Sheesh man, talk about cold. Wait, does that mean you’d be into getting a love letter from someone who does know you?” Yosuke asks with a smile on his face.

Yu looks at him as they head upstairs with a smirk on his face, “That a love confession, Yosuke?” Yosuke turns beet red as Yu opens the door to their class.

“Wha- Hell no!” Yosuke shouts at the top of his lungs, making every other student turn and stare. He lowers his voice to a growl, “Dude c’mon, I’m sleep deprived as shit, don’t make me act out like that.”

Yu sits down in his desk, Yosuke sets his books down on his own desk and stands next to Yu. “One hell of a reaction there, partner.” Yu says, still smirking.

“Whatever man.” Yosuke looks towards the door, “I wonder how Chie’s doing. Too much stuff happened yesterday. I hope she’s back to her usual self…” That feeling decides to make a reappearance at the reminder. _God dammit, Yosuke._

Speaking of reappearances, the girl herself pushes the door open and begins walking towards the two boys. Both feelings pulse at the sight of her. Shaking his head and looking towards her, he gives a small wave and a smile.

She waves awkwardly back to the both of them, “Mornin’.” She says, her voice shakes a little and she doesn’t make eye contact with either of them.

“You okay?” Yu asks, feeling like her body language is screaming the answer. She makes eye contact with him and smiles brightly, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Yep!” As soon as she finished, her smile falls and she looks towards the floor. A few seconds later she looks up again, her gaze bouncing between the two boys, both looking at her with soft smiles and concern. “Um… Thanks for everything yesterday.” The boys look at each other and tilt their heads, she continues. “It’s kinda embarrassing, ya know? You two were right there to see my hidden feelings and all…”

Yosuke waves his hand dismissively, “Don’t sweat it.”

Chie looks at him, then back to Yu, “The same thing happened to Yosuke, right?” She looks back to the other boy, “Sooo, what was it like?”

Yosuke recoils at the memory and fidgets in place, “Huh? Uhhh, how should I put this…” He snaps his head to Yu with slightly widened eyes, “Oh, I nearly forgot! None of that happened when yours awakened, huh? Hm, could that be because you’ve got nothing to hide?” _Desperate for a topic change, huh Yosuke? Wait… why didn’t anything happen for me?_

Yu brings a hand to his chin, and after coming up with no responses, he shrugs. “I kinda wish I didn’t pass out, I wanna see that.” Chie says a little disappointedly. “You do seem like a pretty open guy though. There’s a funny air about you…” 

_‘Open guy’? I guess I did talk about myself to her a good bit after only knowing her for like a day. I guess that makes me an open guy…? I’ll just take that with a grain of salt._

“I dunno, I guess that’s what draws people to you, or something like that.” She says with interest, which causes Yu to raise an eyebrow.

He smirks and looks at her with half-lidded eyes, ignoring the feelings in his stomach once again, “Falling for me, huh?” He says huskily.

Yosuke coughs, surprised by his boldness, and Chie’s posture stiffens and she blushes furiously, but she also maintains her composure. “Woah… Maybe you are my type.” The uncomfortable feeling fades away, as the pleasant feeling has seemingly taken over his gut.

Yosuke looks between the two, Chie, blood-red face with a bashful smile on her face, and Yu, a wide grin and seductive eyes, while his leg seems to shake subtly. Remembering the flood of love letters, and now seeing him in action, Yosuke sighs. “Gimme a break...”

Yu begins to laugh, followed by Chie and Yosuke shortly after. _This is really nice…_ After catching his breath, still chuckling a little, he locks eyes with Chie, who’s also catching her breath. She flashes a small smile, and he returns it with one of his own. Yosuke clears his throat, causing both of them to blink and look towards him. _How long were we…_

Chie clears her throat as well, albeit more forcefully. “Anyway, what’s most important right now is to rescue Yukiko. I’m dead set on coming. Remember… You promised.” Both boys nod as the first bell rings.

“Oh crap, I still haven’t gone to the bathroom!” Yosuke shouts as he runs out of the classroom.

Chie fidgets a bit, then speaks up. “Hey, um… Th-thanks for saving me… Yosuke’s cool and all, but… There really is something different about you. I feel like you won’t let me down...” She finishes with a smile. The nice feeling pulses again, making his stomach feel like it’s doing flips. He shakes his head, and smiles at her.

“Could I get your number?” He asks before his thoughts can even catch up. 

He takes great pleasure seeing how that made her blush, despite not knowing why he said that so forwardly. “Wha…? Oh… right. You’ll need it from now on, huh? Okay, then.” He hands her his phone and she puts her info in. “Feel free to call whenever…” She hands his phone back, but lets the skin contact from their hands touch linger for a few seconds longer than necessary. She smiles again and goes to her seat.

 _The fuck just happened to me? I just completely spaced out._ He looks towards Chie, to find her staring at him, but she quickly looks to the front of the class as if she was just glancing at him. He smiles unconsciously. “Uhh, dude.” A hushed voice from behind him snaps him back into himself. _Holy shit, what is going on with me today?_ Yu turns back to look at Yosuke, who’s eyes keep shifting from him to Chie. “There a reason you were looking at her like that?”

“Like what?” Yu asks genuinely, to which Yosuke smirks, coughs and shifts his face to look at Chie with an overly gentle smile on his face. Yu chuckles softly, “God, you look like the protagonist of a bad romance anime.”

Yosuke scoffs, “Whatever, we’ll talk about this-” He wiggles a finger from Yu and Chie back and forth, “-later.”

“Nothing to talk about, Yosuke.” Yu says as he looks back towards the board. _Right? I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. Just some friendly teasing, right? Speaking of…_ He looks back to Chie, to see her eyes dart away once again. He takes out his phone under his desk and texts her.  
YN: It’s rude to stare, you know.

A few moments later, she looks at the message, her face bursts into a deep crimson color and she feverishly stuffs her phone back in her jacket pocket and looks to the front of the class, eyes no longer wandering. _Nothing to talk about, right…?_

—————

Class ends, Yu stretches at his desk as Yosuke and Chie walk over to him. “So, we’re going to save her today, right?” Chie asks hushly, very pointedly avoiding eye contact with Yu.

Yosuke hums and nods, “Yeah, we should go back home and grab our gear, then meet at Junes.”

Chie pumps her fist, “Right! I’ll meet you guys there!” She nods to the both of them and steps out of class. Yosuke pulls on Yu’s sleeve, making him realize he was watching her leave.

“C’mon, we gotta grab your gear and talk about… all that.” Yosuke pulls Yu out of his chair and the two leave the school.

“Don’t you have to go grab your stuff too? Why’re you following me?” Yu asks quietly and a bit irritated by Yosuke’s assumption.

“Nah, man. I can keep my stuff in my jacket. See?” He opens his jacket a bit, revealing his nata in the inner pockets. “Despite making me seem like a psycho if people open my jacket, they’re really convenient!” He beams.

“So knowing that carrying those makes you look like a psychopath didn’t deter you from bringing those into school instead of leaving them at home?” Yu quirks his eyebrow at his friend.

Yosuke scratches his neck, “Didn’t really need it pointed out to me again…” He mumbles. “Fine, I’ll keep em’ at home. Anyways…” He says in a singsong voice, making Yu roll his eyes. “What’s the deal with you and Chie, huh, partner?”

Yu sighs, running a hand through his hair, then putting it into his left pocket, once again entering The Pose.™ “There is no ‘deal’, like I said.”

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “Ya know, no matter how convincingly you sound saying that, those lingering stares are saying the exact opposite.”

As he’s about to respond, Yu’s phone pings. He looks at it to see that Chie finally responded to his tease earlier, as he’s about to open his phone to check the message, Yosuke laughs. “Perfect timing, you sure there’s nothing going on, buddy?”

Yu sighs exasperatedly, flipping open his phone to check the message,  
CS: so u arent mad at me?  
Confused, he’s about to respond but remembers that Yosuke’s walking alongside him, so he stuffs his phone back into his pocket. “I’m positive.”

The two talk about random things as they reach Dojima’s house, and every time Yosuke tries to bring up Chie, Yu shuts it down. “So this is where you’re staying?” Yosuke asks, taking in the exterior of the residence.

Yu opens the door and gestures for him to come in, confident that Dojima isn’t home yet. “Yeah, with my uncle and cousin.” They both take off their shoes and hear footsteps coming towards the entrance, a brown pigtail with a pink ribbon makes her presence known before the rest of her head peeks out from the side of the door frame. 

“Hey, Nanako. This is Yosuke, he’s one of my friends. We’ll only be here for a few minutes before heading out, so don’t mind us.” Yu gently says.

“Hi, Nanako-chan, I’m Yosuke Hanamura, just call me Yosuke.” Yosuke says, bending down to eye level as she still partially hides behind the door frame, to which she obscures herself further, with a small whine.

“H-hi.” She says so quietly that they both had to strain their ears to hear her.

“He doesn’t bite, no need to worry, Nanako. But… ‘Nanako- **chan**?” Yu turns to him with a menacing tone, causing Yosuke to take a step back. “It’s ‘Nanako- **san** ’, to you.”

“Y-yes sir! I-I apologize Nanako-san!” He bows deeply to Nanako. Yu laughs heartily, making him cough a bit when he gets a little too loud. Nanako steps out into the doorway with a small smile, and Yosuke stands up straight with a disgruntled expression.

“Do you guys want coffee before you go? I was gonna make some.” Nanako says, now a bit more comfortable after Yosuke’s humiliation.

“Sure, I’ll take mine black.” Yosuke looks at him with mild surprise, “When I was younger, I didn’t know you could put things in your coffee to make it sweeter, so I could only drink it black. I got used to it, and now I kinda like it.”

“Too bitter for me, cream with two cubes of sugar please.” Yosuke says, to which Nanako smiles brightly.

“That’s how I make my coffee too!” She says happily, making Yosuke’s heart melt, but hearing Yu snicker snaps him out of that.

“You take your coffee like a six year old.” Yu laughs to himself as he walks upstairs to grab his gear, the katana and medicine, just in case.

“Not all people have dead taste buds, ya know!” Yosuke shouts after him, he can hear him complaining to Nanako downstairs. “Geez, is he always this annoying?”

“I’ve only known him for a few days, but I think he’s pretty cool.” Nanako says, which makes Yu happier than he thought it would.

“Not cool enough to admit when he’s got a crush, though.” He hears Yosuke say as he finishes grabbing everything, making his way downstairs he sees Yosuke grumbling and sipping his coffee from a mug, as well as Nanako who isn’t sipping from hers, seemingly lost in thought.

“Don’t have any interest in that stuff, Yosuke. Thought I made that clear with all those letters.” Yu states as he grabs his mug, burning his mouth a bit after taking a sip. “Ow, hot.”

“That’s what I thought too, until I saw you looking at Chie with heart eyes. Geez, partner, you should’ve seen your face when she left the classroom! And you’re texting each other now too!” Yosuke speaks a little loudly, obviously more confident with his speech, thinking that Yu won’t be as cold in front of Nanako.

“No idea what you’re talking about with me looking at her. She’s been a good friend to me, and that’s all she is. Got it?” Yu states quietly. Nanako clears her throat, as if to remind them that she’s still here.

“Who’s Chie?” She asks innocently. _Someone that Yosuke’s making a big deal out of for no real reason…_

“She’s another one of our friends, I met her and another girl on my first day of school. Yosuke seems to think that I like her, which I do. But only as a friend, and I’m sure it goes both ways.” _At least on my end…_

“Ya know, they say that denial is the first stage of falling in love… Maybe that’s saying something about your behavior today?” Yosuke says tauntingly.

“That’s the first stage of grief, you dumbass.” Yu says, annoyed. He hears a small gasp, and he turns to see Nanako jump down from her chair, grab something from the counter and put it in front of him. It’s a glass jar filled with a decent amount of yen notes, labeled ‘swears’.

“No swearing!” She chides and pouts at him adorably, pointing to the jar. Yosuke bursts out laughing, and Yu smiles softly, pulling out his wallet and putting some of the money he got from fighting those shadows. _I should ask Teddie about that…_

The two leave after finishing their coffee, and begin heading towards Junes. After a short silence, Yosuke stops walking. “Look, partner.” Yu turns back to see Yosuke looking at him with a serious face. “Sorry if I’ve been annoying about this… it’s just…” He breaks eye contact, getting a bit frustrated as he tries to find the words to say.

“...I was the same way with Senpai…” He says without looking at Yu, “And if there is something between you two… even if only you feel it, you should tell her. You might not always have the chance…” He begins walking again without waiting for a response.

_Oh… I didn’t even think that’d be the reason why… I just thought he wanted to play matchmaker for his friends. Now I feel a little bad..._

“Sorry if it came off as dickish, but, I was really frustrated with myself after I realized all the chances I had to tell her. I don’t want you to feel the same way, partner.” Yosuke droops his shoulders a bit, and Yu wraps an arm around them.

“I’ll take that to heart, Yosuke. If, and it’s only an if, at some point I fall for somebody, I won’t wait to tell them. So thank you, and be prepared to be my wingman if that time ever comes.” Yu gives him a reassuring smile.

Yosuke stands up straight, smiling as well. “When that happens, I’ll be the best wingman you could ever ask for, man.”

“If that happens, don’t get your hopes up.” Yu says a bit snarkily. The two make it to Junes, seeing Chie sitting at one of the tables. She stands up when she notices them, “Hey, Satonaka.”

“So we’re doing this, right?” She asks with determination in her gaze.

Both the boys nod, Yosuke speaking up. “Yeah, we’ll try to save her, but if we get too beat up we should always be prepared to split ASAP.” To which Yu and Chie nod.

“Let’s go then, yeah?” Yu says, and neither of them respond, they just tilt their heads at him, making him sigh. _We should find a table further from the speakers, they can’t hear me over this god damn song._ He gestures his arm towards the store and starts walking, both of them following shortly after.

The ethereal music fills the air once again as they step into the TV world, Chie, now experiencing it for the first time, is alarmed by this. “Comes with the persona, don’t really understand why though.” _Maybe I should ask Igor about that…_ “It becomes a lot more upbeat when we’re fighting.”

“Oh… Okay…” She seems incredibly confused. She pushes her glasses up and begins walking back to Yukiko’s Castle. A few seconds later, Yu feels something pinch his arm, turning to see Yosuke looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Think I was right when I said ‘when’ it happens, buddy.” Yosuke says teasingly before following Chie.

Yu sighs, “The hell’s going on with me today, really?”

“I don’t know, Sensei.” Yu jumps backwards, startled by Teddie’s presence behind him, and Teddie was startled by his reaction, so he immediately jumps behind Yu. “W-was there something bear-hind me?” _If only there was, I could vent my frustrations on whatever it was._

—————

“Tomoe!” Chie calls, kicking the materialized card out of the air, The yellow-clad warrior appears, spinning her naginata and bringing forth a torrent of ice towards the crawling hand-shaped shadow that the Investigation team is surrounding. The hand freezes in place, leaving it vulnerable, “All right guys, pile on! Ready?” She says with a big smile, to which both the boys nod.

The three hack and beat the shadow to pieces, leaving behind some money and more transparent cards, giving Yu the persona Forneus. _A creepy looking sea monster… Cool._ “Hey Teddie, why do the shadows drop money?” Yu asks the navigator.

“I dunno.” Teddie responds nearly instantly, “But it sure is handy, isn’t it?” _Igor better not give me an answer like that…_

“Ya know, Chie. I always tease you for it, but are you actually trained in a martial art?” Yosuke asks, surprised after seeing her in combat.

She scratches the back of her neck, “Uhh, yeah… Jeet Kune Do.” _Is she… lying…?_

“Color me surprised, I always thought you were just reenacting the stuff you saw in your movies. You’re a powerhouse, Chie! It’s really impressive.” Yosuke compliments, which makes Chie try to hide her face in the neck of her jacket.

 _I’m a bit curious to find out if she’s telling the truth... Oh, I got it._ “How about you train us sometime?” Yosuke and Chie turn to look at him incredulously, with Teddie bouncing up and down.

“Ooh, is Sensei gonna become a master fighter?” He asks with stars in his big eyes.

“Hell no dude, training like that probably kills, and I have a job I need to work.” His eyes sparkle, and he smirks mischievously at Yu, “Why don’t you just teach him, Chie? He seems pretty interested in it.” 

_Guess I thought he’d stop matchmaking after that talk, how foolish of me._ “I’d be happy with that.” He narrows his eyes at Yosuke, who only smirks harder, as if reading his thoughts.

“Oh, um… sure. I-I’ll text you when we can start.” She says, not noticing that the two boys are locked in a glaring contest and Teddie is worriedly looking between them.

“Sounds great, now let’s save Amagi.” He says, breaking eye contact and moving deeper into the castle halls.

A few more floors and quite a few fights, they reach a large door at the top of some stairs. “This is it! This is where she is!” Teddie shouts.

After passing around some candy, they all feel a little more energized for some reason. Cracking their knuckles and stretching their backs, they push open the door, revealing Yukiko in her kimono, kneeling tiredly on some stairs, and Princess Yukiko, staring down at Yukiko from the top of the stairs with piercing golden eyes and a menacing aura.

“I knew it, there’s two of her!” Yosuke says, all three of them run to the bottom of the stairs, drawing their weapons and entering their stances.

“Oh? Oooooh, what’s this? Three princes are here to see me!? My my! Are you the surprise guests who came in late?” The shadow speaks in an overly seductive voice, “Aww… I wish I’d gotten a better look at you!” The shadow fans herself with her hand, looking at them with half-lidded eyes, “My, it’s getting crowded here. Why don’t you and I go somewhere else…? A land far, far away, where no one knows me. If you’re my prince, you’d take me there, won’t you? C’mon, pretty please?” She bats her eyelashes and presses her arms together while leaning a bit forward.

“Ooh, is this ‘scoring a hot stud’!?” Teddie asks excitedly. _Not really the time, Ted._

“Three princes…? Wait, does that include me too...?” Chie asks, fairly confused.

“Duh, the third one’s gotta be me!” Teddie says as if he’s not a walking mascot suit.

“I seriously doubt that.” Yosuke says tiredly.

The shadow laughs bitterly, “Chie… Yes, she’s my prince. She always leads the way… Chie’s a strong prince…” Chie clenches her fist tightly. “...Or at least she **was**.”

Chie unclenches her fist, and looks at the shadow, with… hurt in her eyes? Yu can’t really tell. “Was…?” Chie asks with a bit of sadness in her tone, and that unpleasant feeling makes it’s triumphant return in Yu’s gut.

The shadow snarls, “When it comes down to it, Chie’s just not good enough! She can’t take me away from here! She can’t save me!” The real Yukiko struggles to her feet, attempting to look her shadow in the eye.

“S-stop.” She says, exhaustion, sadness and shame ooze out of her voice.

The shadow stomps her foot and flails an arm to the side, “Historic inn? Manager training?! I’m sick of all these things chaining me down! I never asked to be born here! Everything’s decided for me! From how I live, to where I die! I’m so sick of it! To hell with it all!” The shadow rants, that aura growing and the eyes glowing ever brighter as it continues.

“T-that’s not true...” Yukiko weakly denies, to which her shadow turns around, ignoring her.

“I just want to go somewhere far away… Anywhere but here… Someone please take me away… I can’t leave here on my own… I’m completely useless.” The shadow says happily and flippantly, provoking further.

“Stop… Please stop…” Yukiko begs her other self, legs shaking beneath her. Yu tightens his grip on his weapon, feeling Teddie step further behind him.

“I have no hope if I stay, and no courage to leave… So I sit on my ass hoping that someday my prince will come! I don’t care where we go! Anywhere’s fine! As long as it’s not here, I don’t give a damn! Historical tradition? Pride of the town? What a bunch of bullshit!” The shadow speaks in a regal tone that quickly becomes angry and foul-mouthed.

“How dare you…” Yukiko says, clearly getting agitated by the shadow’s continuous provocations.

“Amagi, calm down.” Yu says, trying in vain to quell the situation.

“That’s how I really feel… Isn’t that right... me?!” The shadow looks at Yukiko with bright eyes and a sickening smile.

“N-no…” Yukiko says, anger clear in her voice. All of the bystanders' eyes widen as they realize what’s about to happen.

“Stop! Don’t say it!” Yosuke shouts at the top of his lungs, but it’s too late.

Yukiko stomps her foot and glares at herself, “No! You’re not me!” Hatred dripping from every word, the lights in the room begin to darken, as the shadow begins to laugh. The cacophony fills the entire throne room as the shadow becomes enveloped in a black cloud. Eventually the room becomes pitch black, the only sound being the heavy breathing of the Investigation Team.

Suddenly, a loud metal clang from high above makes everyone jump, then the sound of a rattling chain uncoiling. Another loud clang and light fills the room once again, this time from a very low hanging chandelier with a bird cage on top, and inside the cage is a red bird with long black hair flowing from it’s head, just like Yukiko. _Far cry from a dominatrix and a ninja frog._

“It’s all right Yukiko! Just hang in there, we’ll save you!” Chie calls out to her friend, who is currently trapped behind the shadow.

“Now, my prince… Why don’t we dance and make merry together?” _Can’t really say I’m into birds…_

“Just hold on, Yukiko! I’m right here for you!” Chie shouts, ignoring the gigantic beast in front of them.

“Oh really...? Then I’ll make sure to give you plenty to deal with!” The shadow threatens.

“Shut up already! Guys, it should be weak to ice!” Teddie calls out, to which the three of them nod.

“Chie, freeze this thing when it’s open, Yosuke, you’re with me, let’s make it open.” They both nod. Yu summons his card and crushes it in his hand, bringing forth Izanagi, buffing Chie to make her ice attacks hit harder, then he rushes towards the shadow, followed by Yosuke.

“Jiraiya!” Yosuke uses his persona to create a gale of wind beneath him, launching him in the air like it did against Chie’s shadow. He latches onto the cage and begins stabbing at the bird, only barely scratching it a few times before the metal gets too hot and he has to jump off. As soon as he does, the cage opens and the bird flaps its wings, causing the flames on the chandelier to billow out towards Yu, engulfing him.

“Protect me, Tomoe!” Chie shouts, sending shards of ice into the bird’s chest, making it fall to the floor. Yu attempts to shrug off his new second-degree burns that cover his arms as he stands up, “This is our chance, let’s mess her up!” Chie says as she runs towards the incapacitated bird, Yu limps over and Yosuke follows, the three of them unleashing hell on the shadow, a gust of embers makes them jump back and regroup.

The shadow pulls itself back into its cage, “What, are you trying to make me mad...? We’re not done yet. Show me this strength of yours! Come, my prince.” The shadow screeches and another shadow appears next to it, a small, regally dressed shadow wearing a crown on its head and holding a rapier. The ‘prince’ waves its rapier around and a gentle green light envelops Yukiko’s shadow, sealing some of her wounds.

“Oh, hell no! Guys, we gotta kill that shorty ASAP!” Yosuke shouts, and Yu runs towards it, clashing swords with it, quickly gaining the upper hand as if it’s not even fighting back. Yu pushes it onto its back and rears up an overhead strike and pushes downwards for the killing blow… only to crash into stone. Looking up he sees the ‘prince’ running for its life away from the fight. _What?_

“What? My prince! My dear prince!” She screeches again, attempting to summon him back, only for nothing to happen. “Why… Why won’t he come…?”

“No one’s coming! Now’s your chance to finish this!” Teddie yells as Yu pulls his sword out from the stone.

“Yosuke, boost me up.” Yu says as he jumps toward the shadow, calling forth Forneus. The white ray chills the air around him as Yosuke casts Garu, launching Yu towards the cage. Yu forces the cage open as the shadow pecks at him, adding to his injuries. “Bufu.” He commands, and Forneus freezes the little moisture in the air and sends it careening into the bird, pushing it to fall out of the cage. “Let’s save the princess.” He looks to his teammates, who nod as he jumps and plunges his sword into the birds back. It rears its head up, roaring in agony, letting Yosuke slash at her neck, and Chie landing an axe kick slamming its head back to the ground and finishing it off.

“Yukiko! Are you okay?!” Chie shouts as she runs over to Yukiko’s side.

“No… I’m not-” Yukiko starts saying as she stares sadly at her now blank-faced shadow.

Yosuke interrupts her, “We understand. You’re not the only one like that, Yukiko-san. Everyone has something they can’t show to other people, or don’t want to admit to themselves…” Yu nods as Yosuke finishes.

“Yukiko… I’m sorry.” Chie apologizes with shame seeping into her voice, I was so self-centered that… I never understood what you were going through...” Her voice breaking as tears start to form at the corner of her eyes. “I’m your friend, and I still… I’m so sorry…” She wipes her eyes, but the tears start flowing and Yukiko puts a hand on her shoulder. “I was always jealous of you, Yukiko. You had everything that I didn’t… That jealousy was like a wall, and I was so lonely…! I wanted you to need me… But it was me who needed you. I can’t do anything right on my own… I’ve caused so much trouble for Yosuke and the others. If you weren’t by my side, I… I wouldn’t know what to do…”

“Chie… I never saw the real you either… I was too busy trying to find an easy way out.” Yukiko looks towards her shadow again and lets go of Chie’s shoulder, limping towards it. “‘I want to run away’... ‘I want someone to save me’... You’re right, those feelings are a part of me, too. I understand now, you’re me.” Her shadow nods, and fades away, turning into a cherry blossom colored Featherman character… at least that’s how Yu can describe it. It wields beautiful pink fans made of feathers that extend throughout its entire back.

 _Holy shit…_ The persona changes into a card, which floats down and merges into Yukiko. She falls to her knees, they all immediately rush over and Yu gently moves her arm over his shoulder to help her stand, only to recoil and fall down himself as the extra weight on his arms presses hard into his burns. “Gah, fuck. Yosuke, could you…” Yosuke nods and puts his hands toward Yu, a calm feeling comes over him as his injuries heal a bit.

Yosuke turns his attention to Yukiko, who’s being helped up by Chie, “Are you okay, Yukiko-san?”

She nods, “Yes, I’m just a little tired…” A small smile comes across her face as she looks over the four of them, “You all came to rescue me...?” All of them smile brightly, “Thank you…”

“Don’t even mention it. I’m just so glad you’re safe…” Chie wipes some remaining tears from her face with her free arm. Those feelings come back to his gut, making his smile falter ever so slightly.

Yosuke looks to Yu, with a wide smile on his face. “Right on, we’re pretty good at this, partner.” He winks and holds his fist towards him.

Yu laughs and shakes his head, bumping his fist against Yosuke’s, “Let’s keep at it, yeah?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm excited for the next chapter, we can start getting to the more fluffy bits of this story, at least for our first pairing.  
> I'm also thinking of going back and rewriting the previous chapters to match this style, as some people may have been put off by the old style, which might make the next post late, so if that does occur, I apologize in advance.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and like always, feel free to let me know what you think!


	6. Reality Shows Can Be Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chie drinks some water.
> 
> Yu and Yosuke bro it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincerest apologies for this being so late, I had a pretty eventful week.  
> To make up for it, I added a bit more to this chapter than I was planning to.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

***Chie POV***

_Holy crap holy crap holy crap holy crap._ These have been her thoughts for the past few moments. With a red-hot face, Chie stares down a beef bowl, not because she has some sort of logical reason for doing so, but because she needs to focus on something else, anything else. 

\------

After saving Yukiko, the four people who can leave the TV bid Teddie farewell, and recuperate at Junes. Narukami disinfects and bandages the burns on his hands with the supplies he brought, Yukiko apologizing profusely for indirectly inflicting his injuries. Yosuke and Narukami proceeded to ask Yukiko if she remembered anything when she was thrown into the TV, she didn’t, but what was most important was that she was safe now. Yosuke began to think out loud saying that the Yukiko that they saw on the Midnight Channel was not actually Yukiko, but her shadow, and that the things she was suppressing in the real world took form in the other. Before they got too into that discussion however, they decided that Yukiko needed to rest, so they called it there and vowed to meet up at Junes when Yukiko was feeling better.

Or that was the plan anyways. After Chie walked Yukiko home and made sure she was okay, she got a call from Yosuke, saying that the three of them should go out and celebrate for saving Yukiko. Chie, and apparently Narukami as well, argued that they should wait until Yukiko feels better to celebrate, to which Yosuke said that then they can just celebrate again. “I don’t know about you, but it’s not often that I get to save a would-be murder victim. So I kinda wanna live a little, ya know?” He said, she agreed, but only on the condition that the place they go with Yukiko be nicer than the one they go to tonight, which Yosuke had no problem agreeing to.

They decided on Aiya, a quaint restaurant that Chie is quite fond of. Getting excited for the meat to come, she decides to take Muku for a walk, briefly catching the sight of… something… near the shrine. _Kinda looked like an animal._ The walk doesn’t last for very long before Muku just runs home, something he does fairly often, so Chie decides to just start heading deeper into the shopping district.

Walking through the shopping district to kill time, Chie sees Narukami in his casual clothes just standing in front of a door… not doing anything. She walks over to him and when he doesn’t seem to notice her, she speaks up, “Hey, Narukami?” And gets no response, so she walks in front of him. He has a completely neutral expression, his breathing is slow and his body barely moves apart from that. She waves a hand in front of his face and his eyes don’t react, “Umm, are you okay?” Worry starts to set in, why is he catatonic now when just a few hours earlier he was fighting like a Featherman character inside the TV? She starts gently shaking his shoulders, nothing. She pokes him in his sides, nothing. She pokes him in the cheek, nothing. _I could try…_ She begins reaching for his hand with both of hers, but stops just as she’s about to make contact. She blushes and shakes the thought out of her head, then she looks back at his steely grey eyes lacking life and focused on nothing.

He blinks, and then he blinks again, eyes revived. He looks down, locking eyes with Chie, who’s quite deep into his personal space. He backsteps, and Chie can see a slight pink tinge on his features. He stumbles as he lands, scratches the back of his neck, then he clears his throat, “Hey, Satonaka. How, um… How’re you doing?” He looks confused as he speaks, the blush fading.

“Uhhh... I’m good. Sooo, why were you just standing there? You wouldn’t react no matter what I did.” She catches his eyes darting to the door he was staring at, then back to her. _Thank god, he’s okay… I think…_

“...So that’s what happens out here...” She hears him mumble, _Good thing I got this close, I guess._ After having that thought, she realizes that she’s still rather close to him, even after his backstep, so she takes a step away. “Sorry, I guess I just zoned out, I do that sometimes. Where’s Yosuke?” He wrings his hands together and winces as he quietly inquires. 

_Is he lying?_ “Oh, um. I think he should be at Aiya by now, wanna head there together?” Chie asks, deciding not to pry further into his strange behavior. _He might get mad again…_

He smiles, “Yeah, sure.” And the two begin walking side by side. It’s not a long walk to Aiya, but there is what feels like a long silence between the two before Narukami finally speaks again. “I found out why we hear music inside the TV, or at least a reason as to why we hear it.”

“Really? I hope it’s something cool, like hearing it makes our personas super strong or something like that! Tell me!” Narukami chuckles at something, but that doesn’t deter her excitement and curiosity.

“Love the enthusiasm, and your idea is actually not too far off from the reason I found out, but it’s not something as noticeable as that.” He shakes his head, then continues speaking, “It’s something to boost our spirits, or to build our anticipation for the battles to come, like that song in Yukiko’s castle, or the one by the entrance of the TV.”

Chie’s shoulders slightly droop, “That’s it?”

He hums, “Yup, it’s a mental thing. The music slaps though, so I don’t really mind if it doesn’t do anything useful.”

He wrings his hands again, grunting almost inaudibly, Chie looks down to his hands. Bandaged and slightly bloody in spots, “How are you feeling, by the way?”

He looks to her and follows her gaze to his hands, “I’ll be fine, Yosuke can heal us in there, so, maybe tomorrow I’ll ask him if he wants to run in there real quick to deal with this… Speak of the devil.” He states, looking ahead, following his gaze they see Yosuke standing outside of Aiya in his usual casual wear.

“Yo, what’s up guys?” He says with some nervousness in his voice, before they can even ask him what's wrong, he shoves a few yen notes into Narukami’s hand, making him hiss through his teeth. “Shit, sorry, forgot your hands got messed up.”

He waves his hand dismissively, but his eyes are still tightly shut. “It’s fine, Yosuke. Why are you giving me money?” He asks quietly, obviously annoyed at the sudden pain inflicted upon him.

Yosuke coughs and scratches the back of his neck, “I completely forgot I had to work today, there’s a sale tomorrow so I have to stay a bit late and prepare the grocery department-”

Narukami takes a step towards Yosuke with narrowed eyes, “Yosuke can I talk to you for a second?” Before Yosuke can respond, Narukami grabs his arm and pulls him a short distance away from Chie.

Narukami seems visibly agitated by something, his body language is screaming with displeasure. “I didn’t plan this, dude!” She hears Yosuke shout, to which Narukami hushes him before coughing. It’s not lost on Chie that she is being excluded from this conversation, and normally she’d be pushing her way into it, but the last time she pried into Narukami’s affairs, he seemed to get upset, so she’d decided on just eavesdropping.

After a few more words from Narukami that she couldn’t hear, Yosuke turned to look at her, with a face that she can’t quite read from the distance. Then he turns to Narukami with a smirk, saying something that she can’t hear, pats him on the back and then begins walking towards her, ignoring the other boy’s piercing glare. “See ya, Chie. Dinner’s on me, let me know how it goes~” He says in a weird singsong voice as he walks past her.

“Such a dickhead.” She’s startled by Narukami standing right next to her, _Too close, again!_ If he does notice her blush, he doesn’t say anything, “So, how about we eat some meat? It’s free, after all.” He says with a smile and a wink. _Talk about control over your emotions…_

She smiles back, “Oh yeah, it’s chow time!” He laughs softly and holds the door open for her when they enter. Her mind only registering that they’d be eating together, alone, when they sat down.

\------

And that leads us back to where they are now, sitting across from each other at a table for two in Aiya, with beef bowls that Chie would have already inhaled if she wasn’t on an impromptu not-date with her leader, of whom she absolutely does not harbor any sort of attraction towards. None at all, totally.

Narukami clears his throat, _Did he say something? Did he think I was ignoring him? Oh no oh no…_ “You’re not eating, you feeling okay? You’ve been fidgeting a bit since we sat down.” _No, don’t sound concerned for me, that’s just gonna make this worse!_ “Oh, right. Satonaka.” He rests his elbow on the table and holds his head in his hand, the movement making Chie look up from her bowl into his eyes, soft, yet piercing steel. “Why did you think I’d be mad at you?”

Chie’s thoughts come to a screeching halt at the sincerity of his voice. Part of her is thankful that he managed to snap her out of that line of thought, but another part isn’t because she doesn’t know how to broach this topic again at the risk of upsetting him. “Umm… When you told me about…” She points at his neck, currently being covered by a grey turtleneck. He touches it unconsciously and nods, urging her to continue. “...After you finished, I said that you were strong for going through all that…” The way his mouth twitched didn’t go unnoticed by her, “...Then you started to walk away without waiting for me.”

He closes his eyes, runs a hand through his hair, and sighs. _I think I just noticed a tick of his… He moves his hand through his hair all the time._ “I wasn’t mad at you. Wasn’t even mad, really.” He opens his eyes, but he’s looking down at the table now.

Now that he’s not looking she deftly grabs a bite of her food, swallows as much as she can and asks “Then what happened?” Her voice was a little hard to decipher since she still had some food in her mouth, but she covered her mouth at least.

He snickers for a second after she finishes eating, but then his smile fades again, still not looking at her. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, growing visibly frustrated at not being able to find the right words to say. He leans both of his arms on the table, moving his bowl to the side, “...I was disappointed with myself...”

Chie takes another bite of her food as he continues, “...Disappointed that I relived all of that by telling it… and that I apparently gave you the wrong impression.” They lock eyes, “I’m not strong. Inside the TV is a different story, I guess.” He fumbles with his words again, before heaving a sigh of frustration, “You know… I just don’t wanna talk about it.”

They fall into an awkward silence, the only noise filling the air inside the restaurant is the chef and a server behind the station washing plates. “I don’t really know this place that well…” Chie looks at him, his eyes focused on the wall above the cooking station. Pictures of one or two celebrities, families and just general photos of Inaba fill the space above the chinese drapery. He turns to look at her, “Think after we train you could show me around?”

“Huh?” She’s completely blindsided by the question, _And I thought he had emotional control before, this guy’s superhuman!_ He smirks and quirks an eyebrow at her. “Uhh… sure, I guess.” She says slowly as she begins taking another bite of her food.

“It’s a date, then.” Never has Chie started choking faster than when she heard those words. After coughing for a few seconds, Narukami nudged his glass of water over to her, to which she promptly chugged it in its entirety. _Wait… this was **his** water…!_ Chie’s face somehow gets even hotter, and then hotter when she hears him start laughing to the point of coughing, seeing genuine joy in his face, when before it was filled with frustration and shame.

She finally catches her breath, and as he’s catching his, the server from behind the station walks out carrying a glass jug of water. She refills the empty glass and tops off the other, and as she goes to head back behind the station, she looks over her shoulder to the two and says “You two make an adorable couple.”

Well, despite the unpleasantness of her now sun-esque temperature, seeing Narukami blush is a nice change. He breaks into a slight coughing fit, so he grabs his glass and takes a sip. Chie’s eyes go wide “Um… Narukami...?” He looks to her, blush still on his face, then the realization hits.

He puts the glass down with a quickness, he looks back to the server, “We-we’re uh… We’re not together.” He scratches the back of his neck and runs a hand through his hair afterwards, his blush has deepened a bit and his leg is visibly shaking under the table.

The server chuckles warmly, “I guess no couple would freak out like that over something as sweet as an indirect kiss, but a fledgling romance might~” She says with a lilt in her voice as she walks away.

Narukami slowly turns back to Chie, his leg still gently shaking the table. He takes a piece of meat and waves it on the fork it’s currently impaled on, “Good thing this is free, right?” He says with a crack in his voice and an almost painfully forced nonchalance.

Chie nods a bit frantically, “Pfft, yeah! At least Yosuke was able to do something right!” She cringes at her inability to say anything else, so she decides to play it off by laughing stiffly, which is followed by his own quiet forced laughter.

The tense awkward silence from before was somehow more manageable than the one they have currently settled into, as now the chef and the server keep chuckling every time they look in the teens direction. _He broke the silence last time, so I should do it now. But what do I say? ‘Pretty funny that we just kinda sorta kissed, right?’ God, that sounds so stupid, just say the first thing that comes to mind. Don’t think, feel._

“I’m having a good time with you...” _Why the hell is that the first thing I come up with!? My own mantra betrayed me!_

“Me too.” She’s surprised to hear his response, even more so the blush on his face as he’s very pointedly not looking at her. “What the hell is going on with me…” She hears him mumble as he rubs his temples, he turns to look at her, seemingly regaining his composure, “Not a bad way to celebrate. Eating free meat with someone… whose company you enjoy.” He finishes slowly and his face is unsure, as if he came up with the ending on the spot.

Chie beams at him and resumes eating, hoping to quell how fast her heart is beating. Unlike the other two times, they fall into a comfortable silence, looking up and smiling at the other periodically. They finish and pay using the money that Yosuke gave them and Narukami offers to walk her home, which she accepts.

Looking up to the sky full of stars, walking side by side, knuckles grazing every so often, small talk that leaves her giggling in the short and comfortable silences, making plans to train on the weekend, and saying good night, him saying that they ‘should do this again sometime.’ Closing the front door behind her, rushing past her parents, lest she get even more flustered than earlier, she slides into her bed and looks out the window, watching him walk away in that stupid, confident pose of his. Maybe she does find him a little bit attractive. Just enough to be excited to see him tomorrow. Only a little, though.

\------

**4/19 Tuesday**

***Yosuke POV***

Yosuke walks into class exhausted, hoping to see Yu or Chie to maybe give him an energy boost, but they haven’t arrived yet. _Of course, the one day I’m early, they aren’t here yet._ He walks over to his desk and sets his bag down, slumping down into his chair after. He must’ve dozed off because the next thing he knows is that Yu is shaking him awake with a grin on his face.

“Morning, Yosuke.” Yosuke groans and sits up as Yu turns back to face the blackboard, only for a few seconds though as he turns back to face his friend again. “Right, almost forgot, we have to talk after class today.” Yosuke quirks an eyebrow at Yu, but he just turns around instead of elaborating 

_Oh no… He’s not mad that I had to flake yesterday, is he? I definitely didn’t do myself any favors by poking fun if he actually is upset._ “S-sure thing, partner.” He says with his voice shaking slightly. _I haven’t seen Yu pissed yet, and I don’t think I want to._ The sound of the door opening catches his attention, seeing Chie walk in and wave to the two of them, or was it just Yu? Hard to tell… 

\------

“So, Yukiko’s gonna be staying at home for a bit. She was super tired and weak when I walked her home, so I think it’s good that she’s resting.” Chie says to the two boys as she sits atop her desk, a smile on her face. _Good to see that she’s back to her old self._ Yosuke smiles to himself.

“I agree, she should take as much time as she needs. We get exhausted for being in there for a few hours, imagine what it’s like to be in there for days.” Yu says as he’s gathering his belongings, “So, Yosuke, you doing anything today?” He asks in an unreadable tone, not helping Yosuke’s nervousness.

“Oh right, you talked about this last night. Welp, I’m gonna go check on Yukiko then hang at home, see ya tomorrow guys!” Chie says as she jumps from her desk and walks out the door.

Yosuke coughs awkwardly, “L-last night, huh?” He tries to tease, but his voice shakes and comes out a little higher than he would’ve liked. Yu quirks an eyebrow and Yosuke sighs. “Nah, I’m free, what’s up?”

Yu holds up his bandaged hands, “I was thinking we could head over there and see if you can heal these, and maybe check up on Teddie. If you’re down, we could get food after too.”

Yosuke’s eyes widen slightly, “Oh… Uh, sure. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but sure, sounds good.” Yu nods and the two begin heading towards Junes. Yosuke considers asking him about last night, but thinks that if he heals Yu first, maybe he’ll be easier on him if it went bad.

\------

“Sensei, you’re back!” Teddie shouts happily upon their arrival, running up to them and bouncing around. “Oh, you’re here too, Yosuke?” _God, this guy pisses me off._

“Could you at least pretend to sound excited to see me too!?” He yells and to his great annoyance, Teddie completely ignores him.

“Chie-chan isn’t here this time?” The bear asks, to which both boys shake their heads, “Well, I haven’t smelled anything off since we saved Yuki-chan, so why’re you here? Did you come just to see little ol’ me?”

“Hell no, Yu’s hands got messed up by Yukiko-san’s shadow, remember? We came here to heal them up.” Yosuke says as he takes a hold of Yu’s forearm, making him wince, “Shit, sorry. Alright, Jiraiya.” He calmly calls forth his persona, whom appears behind him and leans down towards the two. “I’m countin’ on you!”

A soft green light envelops Yu’s hands for a few moments, then it fades as Yosuke pulls away. Yu flexes his fingers a bit and winces slightly. “Can you do any more? They definitely hurt less, but not by much.”

Yosuke shakes his head, “Sorry, partner. Think I’m all tapped out, maybe we could come back tomorrow?”

Teddie walks up to the two and frowns, “I don’t think Yosuke’s gonna be able to get the job done, Sensei.”

Yosuke’s about to blow up on Teddie, but Yu stops him before he does. “What do you mean by that? Am I stuck with these burns until they heal naturally?”

“That is beary possible, but the healing he’s done must’ve lessened them, right?” Teddie says.

Yu nods, “Yeah, no doubt about that. I guess this’ll be fine then. Thanks, Yosuke.”

Yosuke smirks and claps Yu on the back, “Don’t mention it, man. Now whaddya say we go get some food? I know a place with some great steak croquettes.”

“Oooh, I don’t know what steak crocodiles are, but can I come too?!” Teddie asks excitedly.

“Croquettes, and can you leave the TV, Teddie?” In response to Yu’s question the bear shakes his head sadly. “Then maybe we’ll bring you some next time we come in here. As much as I’d like for it to be the case, I don’t think Amagi was the last victim. So we’ll more than likely be coming back.”

Teddie nods, “I’ll be here!” He shouts after the two as their about to head back into their world. Both boys nod and push through the TV, coming out on the other side.

\------

“Sticking chunks of meat in croquettes… Man, this really is the country, huh?” Yosuke jokes as he and Yu sit outside at a table in front of Souzai Daigaku.

Yu hums in agreeance, “Satonaka was right, it’s pretty good. Kinda tough, but still pretty good. I can see why she recommended it.”

Yosuke laughs, “Yeah, but when she showed me this place she said the meat was ‘tender and juicy’... What kind of teeth does she have…?” He jokes.

The two boys laugh with each other as two older women pass by their table, stopping to glance at Yosuke before quickly hurrying a distance away, but still within hearing distance. “He’s from Junes… Yasogami Highschool, right?” Both he and Yu lean a bit to hear better, not that they’re trying to hide their conversation much.

“His classmate… Sato-san…? Went out of business.” _Oh… I should’ve expected that’s what they’d talk about when they saw me._ Yosuke sighs and leans his head on his hands, his elbows resting on the table.

The women say something else, but Yosuke’s already tuned out of their conversation, opting to focus on his friend in front of him. He chuckles to get Yu’s attention, “Sorry about that. You know me, I’m infamous around here.”

Yu’s eyebrows furrow in concern, “It must be tough.”

Yosuke waves a hand dismissively and shakes his head, “Nah, it’s not really. It’s mainly my parents, I’m not personally involved. Anyways, it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it.” He shrugs and fixes his friend with a wink and his winning smirk, “I don’t think there’s anyone in Inaba who doesn’t know me, at school or around town… Not that I mind, but… It kinda sucks that I gotta mind my manners all the time.”

“Maybe you should disguise yourself, get one of those pairs of gag glasses.” Yu chuckles at his own joke. _...He’s a weird guy… My kinda weird, though._

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, that’s enough about me.” Yu quirks an eyebrow, then sighs. “Yup, you know what’s going on. C’mon partner, tell me how it went!” Yosuke waves his hand toward him, gesturing for him to talk.

Yu stays silent for about fifteen seconds, taking another bite of a croquette and looking deeper into the shopping district. “It was fun.” _Cop-out!_ Yosuke makes a ‘really dude?’ face and gestures for him to elaborate. Yu sighs, “We cracked a couple jokes, cleared up a misunderstanding and made plans to train this weekend.”

“Cleared up a misunderstanding?” Yosuke asks.

Yu nods and points towards the scar on his neck, visible in his uniform. “I told her about this, she said something that… was incorrect, and I got upset. She thought I was mad at her, but I wasn’t.”

Yosuke ‘ahh’s’ and takes a bite of his croquette. “You know, I haven’t asked about that, how’d that happen anyway?”

“I’ll give you the abridged version, so you don’t get the same misconception she did.” Yosuke opens his mouth to protest, but Yu just shakes his head. “A few years back, I had to cook for myself. One time, I fucked up and slipped with a knife in my hand and it went in the perfect spot in my throat. Had to spend some time bed ridden, and now I sound like this.” He finishes by pointing to himself. _Huh… I’ll be honest, I just thought the scar was from something else and that was just how he talked._

Yosuke strokes his chin, and nods. “Alright, good enough for me. If it makes you feel any better, the quiet, stoic vibe really works for you. In case those letters you got didn’t make that obvious enough.” Yu chuckles and thanks him silently, before Yosuke smirks. “So… seriously. Nothing romantic happened between you two?”

Yu shakes his head and smiles, running a hand through his hair. “No, Yosuke, nothing happened. We just ate and had some good times.” The way Yu didn’t make eye contact as he said that was not unnoticed by Yosuke.

“Alright then, I’ll just ask Chie about it then.” Yosuke says hoping to provoke his friend into revealing further details.

Yu locks eyes with him, “Sure, be my guest.” He says with an unwavering confidence.

Yosuke sighs at his seemingly unflappable friend, before snapping upright and smiling, “Oh yeah! I almost forgot, you wanna head to Okina City this weekend? Say… Friday?”

“I’m training with Satonaka on Saturday, so that works for me. What do you have in mind?” Yu asks.

“Just hanging out there, exploring, I guess. I don’t know about you, but I’m missing the big city, so I kinda just want to experience something like it again.” Yosuke says with a shrug.

Yu nods, “I definitely miss the coffee, not much else, though. I can get behind that, let’s head there after school.”

Yosuke smiles, “Alright man, my stomach hurts from eating these croquettes, so I’ma head home, seeya!” Yu nods and waves before walking down the opposite end of the shopping district. Yosuke rubs his stomach, _I don’t know if I can take food recommendations from that carnivore anymore…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made a twitter, in which I'll probably mostly be retweeting persona art and funny stuff, but I might post updates on this story and other stories to come as well. So if you're interested in that, feel free to follow me. https://twitter.com/BeezyPepto
> 
> Because of what happened this week, I wasn't able to update the older chapters to the newer format, so I'll be doing that hopefully by Tuesday.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and next time we'll have some more social link fluff and the time-skip for Yukiko to return!


	7. The Cast gets Bigger!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke realizes he's made real friends, and continues to play matchmaker.  
> Yu denies something, and realizes what those weird feelings mean.  
> Chie wins a sparring match, and overthinks in the aftermath.

**4/22 Friday**

After a short and pleasant train ride, Yu and Yosuke step down the stairs from Okina Station and take in the sharp change in environment from Okina City to Inaba. Breathing in the urban air brings a wave of nostalgia over Yosuke, _It feels like an old friend._ He looks over to his non metaphorical friend to see him with a small smile on his face.

“It’s been awhile since I breathed this kinda air! I’m just a poor little ol’ city boy drawn to that urban scent.” Yosuke feels like he’s heard something like that before, so he snaps out of his reverie and looks at his friend with concern and asks a very, very important question, “Wait a minute… Dude, am I starting to sound like Teddie?”

Yu turns to look at him and leans forward slightly, inspecting his face. “Hmm, you are looking hairier...” He says with a monotone voice and a blank expression. It surprises Yosuke how hard he has to strain his ears to hear Yu in the city, and he begins to feel a bit bad for bringing him out here.

However, his friend did just crack a joke, so he decides to bounce off it. He brings a hand to his chin while smiling and closing his eyes as if in deep thought, “Now that you mention it, the foam in my facial soap this morning had way more than usual! H-hey man, you’re making me scare myself!” He chuckles as he finishes and Yu cracks a smile.

Yu takes a look around at the possible locales to hang out, stopping when he sees a cafe with a sign that says ‘Chagall’. “Hey, how about some cof-”

**PI-PI-PI-PI-PI**

He’s interrupted by Yosuke’s phone loudly signaling that he got a message, Yosuke looks up to Yu, who gestures for him to check his phone. He flips it open and reads the message, _Dammit, again?_ He clicks his tongue, “More spam...”

He sighs and puts his phone back in his pocket, “Looks like someone got my number. I get a lot of spam.”

Yu raises an eyebrow at him, “You don’t block them?”

Yosuke sighs again, “Even when I do, they just change their domains, so there’s no point.”

Yu continues to look at him with a questioning expression, “Then why not change yours?”

Yosuke rolls his eyes and smirks, “That’s way too much work, I’d have to get all of my contacts over again. You know how long that’d take?”

Yu smirks “Can’t imagine more than a few seconds at the start of class.” _Come on man…_

“Ouch, low blow, partner. But incorrect! I haven’t changed numbers since before we moved to Inaba. I mean, I might get a text from someone… It’s hard to call, ya know? Plus, people would get annoyed if I called them just to tell them my number changed. And some of them never planned to text me anyway…” He trails off. _Maybe Senpai only answered my texts because I texted her so much…_

Yosuke shakes his head and notices that Yu is looking at him with a somewhat sad smile, so he smirks. “Hey, don’t look at me like I have no friends!” He pauses, _I shouldn’t lie to him._ “Though, to tell you the truth, I don’t remember what we used to talk about. Can’t really call ‘em friends…”

Yosuke locks eyes with Yu, seeing the concern fill them at his words. Yosuke smiles, “Inaba suits me just fine. Plus… I got something I need to do there.” He holds out a closed fist towards someone he can really call his friend. “I’m countin’ on ya, partner!”

Yu chuckles and bumps Yosuke’s fist with his own, “I won’t let you down.”

“Now, I believe you wanted to get some coffee?” Yosuke says in a proper voice, “To Le Cafe Chagall, we go.”

\------

***Yu POV***

“Dude, are you alright? After you took your first sip, you froze for like, twenty seconds.” Yosuke says with concern on his face as the two leave the cafe.

_The dark brown, muddy abyss…_ “Yeah… that was weird. We should probably start heading back though.”

Yosuke hums in agreeance, “True, I’d hate to find out if we missed anything while we were out, ya know?” Yosuke snaps his fingers, “Oh! We should get Chie and Yukiko-san souvenirs!”

“Oh, uhh. Sure?” Yu quietly says with an unsure voice, but then he nods. “I’ll get Nanako something too while we’re at it.” _Nanako’s a kid, so she should be somewhat easy to buy for, but I’ve only spoken to Amagi a few times, and despite what we’ve gone through, I don’t think I know Satonaka that well, either._

He’s pulled out of his thoughts by Yosuke flicking him on the forehead, “You’re really going into deep thought about these gifts, huh?” Yosuke puts a hand to his chin and ‘hmms’ loudly, “I get it man, I do, it’s hard to impress the ladies.”

Yu rolls his eyes, “That’s not what I’m thinking abo-”

He’s interrupted by Yosuke slinging his arm over his shoulder and smirking, “Lucky for you, you just so happen to have the greatest wingman in all of Japan right by your side.”

Yu raises his eyebrows and looks around at his surroundings. “Where? I don’t see them…” He deadpans as he faces his friend.

Yosuke scoffs, “I was kidding, no need to hurt my pride, bro. Let’s just pick them together, they’ll appreciate it more.” He pauses before smirking again, “Unless… you really do wanna impress them. If that’s the case, I’ll help ya pick out the perfect thing for after a successful date.”

Yu sighs and puts Yosuke’s arm back to his side, “Yosuke…” He says somewhat menacingly.

Yosuke takes a small step away, “All right all right, I’ll stop. I just like poking the bear, honestly.”

Yu smiles, “Yeah, and that always ends well when the bear you’re poking is Satonaka, doesn’t it?”

Yosuke shudders and his hands immediately cup his groin, “I was repressing that, man.”

Yu snickers and catches sight of a clothing store out of the corner of his eye. “Let’s check out that place. That one looks like it sells normal clothes, while that one…” His eyes move over to the store with a sign that says ‘Croco Fur’ with weird outfits in the front window.

Yosuke hums in agreeance, “Clothes are a pretty safe bet if you know their sizes… But since we don’t, we should get them some accessories instead.” _I’ll get Nanako a bracelet or something._

Walking into the store, Yu is surprised to see that they haven’t gotten rid of a bit of their winter selection yet, and he sees a very nice scarf. Ignoring whatever Yosuke is saying, he walks over and puts it on, going to check it out in a mirror. It’s a dark grey scarf with lighter grey lines in a plaid pattern. _A good one for the collection, I’ll be getting this._

“You do know it’s only been spring for like a month, right?” Yosuke says behind him, appearing in the mirror with narrowed eyes at his friend. Yu nods at his question. “And you do know that the next season after spring isn’t cold, right? If anything, it’s even hotter.”

Yu sighs, finally realizing that his friend is speaking incredulously. “I just like scarves, Yosuke. Back when this-” He taps his scar, “Wasn’t something I was willing to show people, I wore scarves and turtlenecks, or I’d button my uniform all the way to the top. Made me feel better.”

Yu takes off the scarf and wraps it into an easy-to-hold bundle, frowning. _Even now when I have people I confided in, these still give me comfort. And the scarves will always be around…_

“Right, I wanted to get Nanako a bracelet.” Yu speaks as he notices Yosuke about to say something. “What do you think we should get Satonaka and Amagi?”

Yosuke gives him a hard look, and then shrugs. “Yukiko-san’s a traditional kinda girl from what I know, so maybe a hand fan?” _Fits the elegant image she had when she was in her kimono._

Yu nods, “Sounds good, and for Satonaka?”

Yosuke brings a hand to his chin, thinking for a few seconds, then he smiles brightly. “Stay here and get what we need, I’ll be right back with her gift.”

Before Yu can even respond, Yosuke runs out the door and further down the street and out of sight. Sighing, Yu goes and grabs an adorable pink bracelet with the dog...magnifying glass… thing from Magical Detective Loveline. _Hopefully she likes this show._

Yu looks around some more and finds a very out-of-place hand fan with a metal frame. The paper is a deep red that reminds him of the sweater he saw Amagi wearing in school, he smirks to himself. _Pretty good luck, Narukami._

He pays for the items, including his scarf and leaves the store, seeing Yosuke running towards him holding an opaque white plastic bag.

Panting, Yosuke holds the bag out to him, “Give… this to her… after… the training.” After a few more seconds of ragged breathing, he catches his breath and Yu takes the bag. “Come on, we’re gonna miss the next train back!” He says as he stuffs what looks like a pen into his pocket, then he starts running again.

Yu runs after him, and as he’s running up the stairs he decides to take a peek in the bag… and that pleasant feeling in his stomach comes back.

He smiles to himself and picks up the speed. _He just can’t stop himself, can he?_

\------

**4/23 Saturday**

Yu wakes up to a message from Yosuke, reminding him to give the girls their presents when he sees them. _I don’t know when I’ll be seeing Amagi next, so I should probably just hand it off to Satonaka. Speaking of…_

YN:So is the date still on for today?

He hovers over the send button, then deletes the message as his face slightly heats up, remembering the embarrassment that line of teasing led him to, also ignoring the pleasant feeling in his stomach as he remembers last night.

YN:So we still on to train today?  
CS:yea! meet me on the roof after school

He smiles and flips his phone shut, getting dressed and heading downstairs. “Morning, Nanako.” He greets the young girl, who is sitting at the kitchen table stuffing some toast into her mouth.

She turns to look at him, drinks some juice and swallows her food. “Good morning, I made you some coffee to go with your breakfast.”

Yu smiles gently at his cousin, “Thanks.” He takes a seat at the table and begins eating. After a few minutes he clears his throat and speaks “Oh, right. I went to Okina City yesterday with Yosuke and I got you something.”

Nanako immediately perks up, eyes wide and lips curled upwards into a smile, “Really?!”

Yu chuckles and nods before reaching into the white bag and pulling out the Loveline bracelet.

She gasps when she sees it, “I love Loveline! She’s the best detective there is!”

_Not her dad?_ Yu shakes that out of his head and smiles at her, “I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it, thank you so much!” She beams at him as she puts it on, giggling as she inspects it, and Yu feels his heart melt. _She’s too pure for this world, man._

\------

The final bell rings and Chie waves to the two boys before leaving the classroom. Yu feels a tap on his shoulder and turns to look at the perpetrator, who else but Yosuke.

“So what’d Nanako-san think of her gift?” He asks genuinely, emphasizing the ‘san’ as he speaks.

Yu smiles to himself, remembering the sunshine that filled her face as she put on the bracelet. “She loves it, made me feel pretty good about myself honestly. Something tells me that girl needs more happiness like that…”

Yosuke’s eyebrows furrow in concern, “What’d you mean by that?”

Yu shakes his head, “Just a theory. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go train.” He says as he gathers his belongings, including the bag holding the gifts for the Christmas colored duo.

Yosuke seems like he doesn’t wanna drop that subject, but shrugs. “Alright man, hope you enjoy getting your ass kicked.” Yu quirks an eyebrow at him, “Workout wise, I don’t think she’s gonna kick your ass without a reason.” He laughs as he finishes, “Be sure to give her the gift after you finish.”

“I think you should be the one to give it to her, you were the one who-”

Yu is interrupted by Yosuke clapping him on the back, “Dude, it’s free brownie points for you with both of them.” Yu sighs and Yosuke just chuckles. “Look, if you really care that much, just tell her I got it when you give it to her.”

Yu looks his friend in the eyes, and there’s something about the way they twinkle that makes him feel slightly uneasy. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks, Yosuke.”

Yosuke smiles, “No problem, partner.” _...Was it just my imagination, or was there something… mischievous about that smile?_

Yu shakes his head and bids his friend farewell as he walks up to the roof. Pushing the door open to the rooftop open, he sees Chie sitting on top of a vent kicking her legs back and forth. She smiles and gives an energetic wave. “Yo!”

“This is a nice spot.” He says to no one, looking out over Inaba from atop his school. _It’s really nice here, I should go sightseeing sometime._ He looks back to the girl now standing next to him, she must’ve gotten up when he was admiring the scenery. “Shall we?”

She eyes the bag he’s holding and he pulls it behind his back. “That’s for after the tour you promised.”

She narrows her eyes at him, but nods. “Okaay… Well, follow me! I know a great place to train!” She quickly starts jogging towards the door, Yu quickly following behind.

\------

It’s a familiar spot, in the floodplain though, rather than above it on the road. A part of him considers that maybe she just unconsciously picked this spot because it was close to where they had their first important conversation. But that thought fades when he sees the giddy smile on her face, as that memory was anything but happy.

“Yeah, this spot’ll work. How ‘bout we get started?” She turns to her training partner as she begins stretching her arms.

“Sure, but what are we even training for? For the investigation?” Yu asks as he begins doing the same, putting down his belongings next to Chie’s on the bench close by.

Chie starts stretching her legs, “Well, yeah. I need to hone my kicking skills, or I won’t be able to use them in battle.” Yu suddenly becomes very interested in the water when she starts lifting her leg upwards, “And when I tried practicing at home, my mom and dad got mad at me ‘cuz I accidentally kicked a hole in the shoji. But, no better time to start training, right?”

_Her energy is kind’ve contagious._ “Right.” He says with a grin, noticing the determined look on her face after he’s finished stretching. “Something up?”

She clenches her fists, “I feel pathetic knowing that my shadow is another ‘me.’ It makes me feel like I gotta work even harder to prove it wrong!” Chie turns to look Yu in the eyes with a bright smile that makes that pleasant feeling reemerge. “That’s why we’re training together, between you and me, we’ll be unstoppable!”

“Hell yeah, we will.” _That sounds nice…_ Yu becomes confused with himself and shakes his head. _Where’d that come from?_

Chie doesn’t seem to notice, “Alright, let’s start today with frog leaps!” She immediately squats, then rises and jumps forward at the peak, leading into another squat. “C’mon, you too!”

Yu flinches at the idea and inwardly sighs, “On it.” _For some reason, I was convinced we wouldn’t end up doing any actual training._

\------

The sky now sports a beautiful orange as the sun begins to set, creating the perfect lighting for two teenagers exercising in the middle of a floodplain.

“Woo! Alright, now let’s finish off today with a spar!” She shouts excitedly.

Yu’s eyes widen, “W-what?” He asks in between his labored breathing.

She smiles at him a bit deviously, “We’re gonna spar to end the session!” _‘Hope you enjoy getting your ass kicked.’ Is that why Yosuke was smiling?! Because he knew she was gonna fuck me up?!_

“Uhh… So I’m not sure if I’ve said this, but I’m not trained in any martial art. You’d wipe the floor with me, no doubt.” Yu says with his voice slightly shaking and lips curling slightly upwards.

Chie does a roundhouse kick and gives him a thumbs up. “Well, that’s why you’re learning, ain’t it?” _She’s not gonna take no for an answer…_

Yu runs a hand through his hair and scratches the back of his neck with his still bandaged hands. “I-I’m not exactly comfortable fighting one of my friends, p-plus I’m still injured.”

Chie sends him a too innocent smile, “Then we won’t use our hands! It’ll be fun, I promise.”

Yu finds himself having a hard time coming up with another argument when he sees her eyes sparkling with excitement, and that feeling pulses again. He sighs, resigning himself to his fate. “Alright…” He cracks his neck, then his knuckles. “Bring it, Satonaka.” He enters what he thinks is a fighting stance and gives her a smirk filled with faux confidence.

...

...

...

Five seconds. He lasted five seconds.

He lies breathless on the grass, arms stretched out and covered in sweat. Chie stands above him, laughing heartily with her hands on her hips, as one her legs holds him down at his torso. “Looks like I win!”

He should hate this gloating, he should. But looking at her from this angle, glistening in this light, he doesn’t. _She looks really…_ His eyes widen and he shakes his head, “I’m… so surprised…” He says breathlessly, desperately ignoring his shaking leg and that feeling in his gut.

She smiles down at him, “If it makes you feel any better, you did pretty well for an injured guy.” It’s after she finishes he realizes that she’s still towering over him, stepping on him and keeping him down.

It’s also then when he realizes that he doesn’t mind that.

He immediately wiggles his way out from under her powerful leg that he absolutely wasn’t checking out and stands up facing away from her, slapping his face a few times to cool it down. _Am I a masochist or something? What the hell is going on with me…?_

“So... how about that tour, now?” His voice cracks, and she chuckles at him.

“C’mon, don’t be embarrassed! I’ve beaten up Yosuke plenty of times and he always bounces right back.” She gradually stops giggling, “Alright, let’s go, ya big baby.”

Yu huffs dramatically, “You wound me so, madam.” He grabs his bags and the two of them begin walking through Inaba.

She points out her favorite spots, most of them being food places. She also shows him some places to relax and just look around, and it’s at some point then he remembers that he wanted to go sightseeing around Inaba, and she took him to do just that.

He gets the feeling he would’ve enjoyed it less if he did it by himself, like he was planning to. He probably would’ve enjoyed it less if it was him and Yosuke too- _Wait… Why am I having these thoughts...? Do I…_

He turns to look at his companion, watching her gleefully talk about a time when she walked her dog through the shopping district and he ran into Junes. A few drops of sweat roll down her cheek, her eyes color really popping in the setting sunlight, and her hair that bounces every time she takes a step. That pleasant feeling growing into something that’s both lovely and unbearable the longer he stares at her.

_Do I... like... Satonaka?_

Yu looks away and runs a hand through his hair, hoping to quell his stomach. _No way in hell. I’m just grateful that I have someone I can confide in during my stay here. I’ve definitely felt this with Yosuke, definitely. These are just new feelings because I’m finally accepting myself, and that’s all they are…-_

He hears her laugh again, and it completely shuts off his thoughts. “Muku’s a big doof, but I love him. Maybe one of these days you’ll catch me walking him and he can introduce himself.” Chie says jokingly.

Yu smiles, “I’d like that.”

_-...That’s definitely all they are…_

\------

***Chie POV***

After showing Narukami a bit more of her hometown, they finally arrive at his house. “This was a lot of fun, besides the whole ‘getting my ass handed to me’ part.” He says as he runs a hand through his hair, _Hm? There’s that tick again..._

“Thanks for training with me. I meant what I said, if you and I team up, we’re unstoppable.” She says before giving him a smug smirk, “And after you train some more.”

Narukami snickers, “I’ll beat you next time.” _So there’ll be a ‘next time’, huh?_ Chie flashes him a toothy grin. “Oh right, here, the gifts.” He holds out the white plastic bag towards her.

She takes it and wastes no time looking inside at its contents, making him chuckle. She gasps, seeing the box of a very familiar movie. “Trial of the Dragon!”

Narukami laughs and rubs the back of his neck, “Yosuke and I went to Okina City yesterday and we decided to get you both souvenirs. Yosuke ran out of the store we were in to go and get that for you, while I stayed behind to get Nanako and Amagi’s. He must’ve felt bad, since he got you the Finest Punches edition.”

Chie’s shoulders slump a bit, _...Of course he’d get Yukiko a present, that’s on me for getting my hopes up._

Narukami must’ve taken that as some kind of inquisition, “Nanako’s my younger cousin I’m staying with.”

Chie nods and smiles, she’s happy she got her favorite movie back, just not from the person she wanted a gift from, so she tries to hide her moderate disappointment. “Thank you both, I guess I’ll give this to Yukiko when I see her.”

Narukami hums, “I think Yosuke has a knack for picking out gifts. From what I know of the both of you, he hit the nails on their heads.” He finishes with a small smile.

Chie quirks an eyebrow. _Yosuke picked out both of the gifts? Huh. I don’t know whether to feel better or not._ She shakes her head and grins, “Well, I know what I’m watching when I get home. See ya later, Narukami!”

“See you, Satonaka.” He quietly says as she turns to walk away.

She pulls out the hand fan and admires the craft, _It feels like it’s sturdy enough to be a pipe or something._ She puts it back in the bag and takes out her movie, seeing that it’s the director’s cut means it comes with a few more minutes of never-before-seen footage and extras. Her excitement builds more than she thought possible about watching this movie again.

\------

It rains at midnight, and to her relief, nobody shows up on the Midnight Channel. But in all honesty, she’s got better things to do than worry about the case. She’s got a movie to watch.

Her tiredness turns out to be a bit useful as it helps her realize something interesting. She didn’t notice it before because she was too excited to think about anything other than watching the movie, but despite it being a supposed brand-new copy of Trial of the Dragon, it doesn’t have plastic wrap covering the case.

_Did Yosuke lie to Narukami and just rent the movie while saying he bought it? Or did he buy a used copy and still lie about it being new? I don’t know which I’d be angrier about…_

She huffs, she can hassle Yosuke about it the next time she sees him, but she might as well still watch the movie. She opens the case and finds the receipt stuck on the inside, seeing a small arrow drawn on it.

She pulls the paper out of the box and flips it over, revealing a few sentences written with decent handwriting on the back.

“Yo, Chie! It’s Yosuke. This is kind of a failsafe, so if Yu told you that he got you the gifts, then don’t read this since it’ll be kind’ve redundant.” Chie looks at the paper with confusion before continuing to read. “But if my gut instincts are right, then he probably didn't. ;) Partner probably knew you were still pissed about me breaking your disc. (Total accident, by the way)”

She rolls her eyes and continues reading, “So he gave me some money and told me to go to this place and buy it for you, while he bought Nanako-san and Yukiko-san’s gifts.” The ‘-san’ in ‘Nanako-san’ is bolder than the rest of his writing, _Weird…_

“I guess he wanted to give me some free brownie points by saying that the gifts were from me, when in reality, I kinda just tagged along and gave him the idea for Yukiko-san’s gift.” Chie feels her face become slightly warmer, “But he was the one who found it. I’m running out of space on this thing, but he’s a pretty cool guy, right?”

_So… he did get this for me…_

Chie’s face suddenly becomes very hot, and she can’t seem to hold back a smile.

_Calm down, Chie. He’s your friend, this was just a gift from one friend to another. Friends do that all the time. Don’t overthink it._

That inner monologue doesn’t really work, so she decides to sleep without even watching the movie, also not noticing that she still held the receipt as she fell asleep.

\------

**4/30 Saturday**

“Sorry to keep you waiting. The soba is yours, right Chie?” Yukiko says as she makes her way over to the group as they hang out on the roof of the school.

“Thanks!” Chie is grateful for her friend’s arrival, it’s been kind of difficult for her not to get really flustered by Narukami’s teasing since last week. But she’s even more grateful for the delicious food being handed to her, “Ooooh, that smells so good!”

“It still needs a few minutes, so let’s both be patient.” Yukiko says with a gentle smile.

Chie reluctantly nods and turns towards Yosuke, “So why’re we here again?”

Narukami turns to Yukiko after patting Yosuke’s shoulder, “Amagi, I know you’ve probably had a hell of a week since we got you out, but we need to discuss what happened again, so I’ll apologize in advance for making you remember this stuff. Do you remember anything the night you got kidnapped?”

Yukiko blushes slightly at the use of her name with no honorifics, but that quickly fades as she looks to the floor and tries to recollect. “No… I thought I might remember something if I let it sit for a while, but as time passes it only gets hazier.”

She looks back up to the boys, “I think… the doorbell rang at the entrance… and someone called for me…” She shakes her head, “But when I woke up after that, I was already in that castle. I’m sorry.”

Chie waves her hand dismissively, “No need to apologize.” She brings a hand to her chin in thought, “But does that mean this ‘visitor’ is the culprit?!”

Yosuke shrugs with a frown, “I don’t know… If it’s true, then that’s one daring criminal. What kind of killer would ring the doorbell? The police are probably looking for witnesses… but I don’t think we can expect much from them.” He chuckles darkly to himself, “As if the killer wore bright yellow clothes at the scene of the crime.”

_Why would someone want to do stuff like this?_ Narukami voices her thoughts, “What do you think their motivation is for this? No matter what I come up with, it doesn’t make sense to me…”

Yosuke looks at him with eyes full of determination, “We won’t know until we confront ‘em ourselves. But we can be sure of one thing.” Everyone quirks an eyebrow at him, “It’s no coincidence that people keep ending up in that place. Someone on our side is definitely kidnapping them and throwing them inside the TV.”

Narukami sighs, “It’s murder, no doubt about that.”

There’s a short silence before Yosuke speaks again, looking at Yukiko. “Oh yeah, we never told you. This guy and me are gonna catch the culprit ourselves!” He points two fingers at himself and at Narukami, who nods as he finishes. “The police are out of their league on this case, but we got Personas.”

Narukami locks eyes with Yukiko, “We’ll get them, no matter what, I promise.”

Chie pumps her fist into the air, “I’m helping too! I can’t believe someone would throw people into a place like that. I’m gonna sock whoever’s doing this!”

Yosuke looks at her with surprise, but Narukami just nods and smiles, as if he knew that’s what she would say. _I can’t decide which is worse, his teasing, or those damn smiles!_

“Let me help too.” Yukiko says confidently, causing each of them to look at her in surprise. “I want to know why this is happening. ...Especially if someone hates me so much they want to kill me. I don’t want to run away from myself anymore.”

All of them nod, Yosuke standing up with a smile on his face. “Then let’s all work together and catch this asshole!”

Yukiko matches his smile, a smile that Chie is very happy to be seeing again. “Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of Yu collecting scarves comes from a fic by Zack1187 titled "Living and loving life, in a series of One-Shots." I highly recommend reading it, as the first chapter is a heartwarming one-shot about Yu and Chie going on a date. I thought the idea of him collecting scarves was adorable, and it makes sense with his insecurities, so I yoinked it.
> 
> Yukiko is finally here! I'm pretty excited to start writing the interactions between her and Chie, as well as all of her interactions with everyone else. I think she's one of the funnier characters in the Investigation Team, I always bounce between her and Kanji being the funniest, so I hope to do her justice.
> 
> Only a few hours late this time. I hope you all enjoyed whatever you did for Thanksgiving if you celebrate it! And last thing, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you'd like, please let me know what you think!
> 
> See you again next week!


	8. Improv: Forgetting Your Lines in Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ipsa Historia Repetit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, thank you so much for 35 Kudos and for 800+ hits!

**???/???**

“Right, I think that’s all the questions I had for today. I had a good time today, Marie, I’ll see you later.” The wild-card looks at the beautiful attendant, then at the intimidating master of this space. “I’ll be back soon.” The young man closes his eyes and his body slowly begins to fade away back into reality.

A few minutes pass in silence before Margaret clears her throat, “Master, if I may ask a question?” She says as she flips through the many pages of Le Grimoire, glancing towards the girl who is now furiously writing away on a colorful piece of paper.

Igor nods his head, “Of course, Margaret.” Looking over to his current attendant, she sits with her legs crossed as she reads her tome, her face wearing an expression that he’s become unfortunately accustomed to seeing, in part due to her unruly sister, and another due to their current predicament. One part concern, one part infatuation, and one part frustration. “Though, I have a feeling I know what you’ll be asking.”

She closes the book with a light thud and turns her head, making eye contact with her master. “Do you believe this time will be different?” She looks towards Marie, who’s too engrossed in her writing to pay attention to their conversation. She turns back to Igor, “I find myself growing increasingly more frustrated each time he returns.”

Igor’s eyebrow twitches, hinting at his own frustration. “With a few new additions…” His eyes flicker to Marie, “... the outcome may change. He truly is a remarkable guest, and we must continue to nurture his heart, all in accordance to the contract.” He extends a hand towards Margaret, turning to her, “You’ve asked this before, Margaret.”

Margaret puts her index finger to her forehead and sighs exasperatedly, an action very out of character for her, unless she’s with her siblings, that is. “Is there truly nothing more we can do?”

He understood her frustration, this was the first time something like this has happened… “Relax, dear. If we interfere anymore than we already have, we will be violating the rules.”

And he’d rather not have this happen again.

“However… I will humor a possibility. Did you have something in mind, Margaret?” He quirks an eyebrow at her.

She sits up straight, uncrossing her legs and holding the tome firmly in her lap. “I wouldn’t wish to directly interfere, just… Make him ask questions that don’t have logical answers.” Her golden eyes burn with determination, “Make him experience déjà vu, because by all accounts-” She’s interrupted by him holding his hand up.

“Those questions may come naturally. This space exists between time and matter, after all.” He spreads his long arms out, folding them under his chin after he’s finished. “I do hear your suggestion, however.”

She exhales to ease her temper, thinking about it makes her angrier than she thought. “Thank you, master.” She turns back to Le Grimoire, tracing it’s spine with her fingers, then opening the book to the page of the Chariot. “He seems to favor this one quite heavily…” She mutters to herself.

\------

**5/03 Tuesday**

***Chie POV***

It’s been a few days since the Investigation Team got together to just hang out. Not for any real reason- well, Chie and Yukiko were still kinda miffed at Yosuke and Narukami for eating their soba on the roof a few days back. But they promised to buy them steak! That’s more than enough for Chie to forgive and forget.

After the ravenous consumption of the soba, they went into the TV to properly introduce Yukiko to Teddie, as well as give her a pair of glasses to call her own. Red plastic, with half-rimmed frames around the lenses. They even fought a few shadows to get her into the rhythm of things, in which she showed herself to be quite the potent healer, as well as a powerful caster.

The few days after that, Chie spent mostly with Yukiko, both giddy to truly have the other back. Narukami was out doing who-knows-what, and Yosuke was working at Junes for most of his time, so she didn’t see either of them at all for the most part. Save for the one time she ran into Narukami in the shopping district at night, the two of them enjoying a pleasant conversation with just enough teasing from him to make her want to punch him.

But now that it’s Constitution Day, they have the day off, so they have the whole day to celebrate Yukiko’s induction into the team, and to get the both of them the filet mignon they promised. So here she stands, just outside of the Dojima household, right in front of the front door.

_Why am I so nervous?! Just knock on the door! He’ll answer, we’ll get steaks and we’ll all have a great day off!_ She lifts her fist to knock, but she hesitates, recalling the teasing she got from Yukiko after telling her about their training session. _‘Snrk...hahahahaha! Chie! You beat the crap out of your first date!_ ’ Which was then followed by two minutes of uninterrupted laughter, Chie did try to stop her a few times, though.

_It wasn’t a date… it was two friends training to fight in another world and solve a murder mystery! He just so happened to get us both gifts, one of which is a perfect weapon for her to use inside the TV… wait, why is that? I know Yosuke gave him the idea, but why such a sturdy fan? And the other gift was a really sweet and friendly gift for a friend. It meant n-_

“Satonaka?” She’s pulled out of her thoughts by a quiet and husky voice. Turning to see Narukami in his casual clothes leaning against the doorway with a quizzical expression and the ghost of a smirk on his face. “I saw a shadow pacing through the shoji, wasn’t expecting any visitors. What’s up?”

She fights off the heat rising to her face after her thoughts, she decides to play it casually. “Oh, cool, you’re home.” She peers a bit past him to see the head of a little girl hiding just a short distance behind him. He follows her gaze and gestures for her to come in, as she does, she continues. “If you’re free today, wanna go somewhere?” He raises an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly, and she quickly waves her hand, “Yukiko’s coming, too.”

He nods, “Sure, but first…” Narukami turns around, facing the young girl, “Nanako, this is another one of my friends.” He leans over towards Nanako, covering the left side of his face with his hand, “She’s cooler than Yosuke, but unlike him, she might bite.” He makes no change to his volume, so she can hear him perfectly fine. _Teasing me again, huh?!_ She kicks him in the shin, causing him to hiss in pain. “See?” He says with a pained chuckle.

Chie scoffs, she smiles at the little cousin she’s heard about, “I’m Chie Satonaka, and don’t worry, I won’t kick you.” She turns to the boy who’s rubbing his leg while smirking at her. “But I might kick him again.”

Nanako looks at Chie, then glances at Narukami. She does this a few times before walking up to his side and whispering something in his ear. His eyes go wide and he shakes his head. Nanako stands up again, nodding. “Nice to meet you, Satonaka.”

_Wuh!_ “Did you tell her to call me that?!” She winds up her leg for another kick, refusing to let another person pick on her today.

He doesn’t flinch, “No, she must’ve picked up on the fact that you’re fun to tease.” He says with a wry smile on his face. He stands up and cracks his neck, “Call her by her given name, I guess, Nanako.”

Nanako frowns slightly, but nods regardless. “If you’re going somewhere, don’t worry. I can take care of the house by myself. Go and have fun with Chie.” She says as she turns around, walking towards the table by the TV. Narukami and Chie both frown and share a look.

“Can we take her with us? We’re just planning on hanging out, right? Not going in the TV?” He asks, lowering his voice and leaning towards Chie so Nanako can’t hear him. “She hasn’t had much to smile about recently…”

Chie smiles brightly and nods, _What a nice guy, he’s like her protective brother or something._ “Of course! Only if she wants to, though.” Her heart skips a beat when he smiles as he looks over to Nanako, she hopes she isn’t blushing as much as she feels like she is. “Do you wanna come too, Nanako-chan? It’ll be fun…” She asks excitedly, goading the younger girl into saying yes.

Nanako whips her head around in confusion, but her lips twitching upwards reveal her excitement at being asked. “U-um…” She seems flustered by the conflict of not wanting to intrude on her cousin’s plans, but also really wanting to go out and do something fun for a change.

Narukami shrugs his shoulders, giving her that same smile from before, “It’ll be fun…” He says in the same way that Chie said it, egging Nanako on to join the teens in their get-together.

Nanako smiles brightly and skips towards them, “Okay!” Narukami laughing softly and Chie holding in a squeal at how adorable this little girl is as they begin their walk to Junes. Talking to Nanako is great, she has this strange mature vibe, while still having the childlike innocence to be expected of a six-year-old. _Like a wise ball of sunshine…_

Throughout their whole walk, Nanako would consistently glance between the two whenever there were any silences, and she looked like she had a question on the tip of her tongue that she didn’t ask. At one point though, she did tug on Narukami’s sleeve and whisper something to him again, “W-what?” Chie hears him say slightly louder than he intended to, his eyes dart to hers, then he shakes his head. “N-no, I don’t think so, Nanako.”

Chie tilts her head at the both of them, Nanako just smiles at her brightly, and Narukami looks straight ahead and runs a hand through his hair. _Hmm?_ “Oh, Chie! Narukami-kun!” As they reach an intersection, a familiar voice calls out, they each turn to see Yukiko waving them over from the opposite side.

“Hey, Amagi. Nice to see you, and this…” He gently pushes Nanako forward, “... is Nanako. She’s gonna be joining us today.” The younger girl gets flustered and waves awkwardly at her new acquaintance.

Yukiko bends down to eye level, “Hello, Nanako-chan. I’m Yukiko Amagi.” She gives her the famous Yukiko gentle smile.

The younger girl immediately perks up, “Like the inn?” Yukiko nods in response, her smile flickering for an instant before going back to normal. Nanako turns to Narukami giddily, “Wow, you know a famous person! Her family is on TV sometimes!”

Narukami smirks, “In the TV sometimes, too.” The two other teens stiffen as Nanako tilts her head in confusion. “Just an inside joke between us.” He says as he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, _He was probably expecting us to laugh. Geez, this guy’s got weird timing._ He clears his throat and says something that none of them hear, causing him to shake his head and resume walking.

“So, Yukiko. I thought we were gonna be seeing you later since you had to work today. You get out early, or somethin’?” Chie asks her best friend as the follow shortly behind the other two.

Yukiko responds with an affirmative hum, “It wasn’t all that busy today, so my mom let me finish up early.” She looks over at Narukami and Nanako, then back to Chie. “Sorry for intruding on your walk, it seemed like you were having fun.”

Chie waves her hand dismissively, “It’s more fun now that you’re here, don’t be silly. Plus…” She looks over at Narukami, walking in that pose of his. “... It’s still kinda hard to talk to him without getting embarrassed.”

Yukiko giggles softly, “Those gifts were very thoughtful, but you’re just asking to be teased if you keep acting like this.” Chie pouts, making Yukiko laugh again, “I think it’s very sweet that he’s had such an effect on you. But if he’s not making a big deal out of it, then neither should you.” Yukiko puts her hands behind her back as she walks, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Though, maybe you could get him a gift in return?”

Narukami turns to look at Yukiko and Chie, giving them a small smile, then turning back to Nanako. Chie hums, “Maybe…” She mutters, ignoring the wry smile her best friend is giving her.

\------

***Yosuke POV***

_Now to just slink away for a bit…_ Yosuke thinks to himself as he begins slowly and methodically moving towards the food court. He’s been working for a few hours now, but he just got a text from Chie that her, Yukiko-san, Yu and Nanako-san all just got here and wanna hang out for their day off. _’Their day off’ is right. Why the hell am I stuck working?_

He slumps down in the chair they’ve saved for him and regards them all with a tired smile. “‘Sup guys?”

They strategically picked a table far away, or as far as they could be, from the speakers that play the music and broadcast announcements so they could easily hear Yu. “Hey, Yosuke. How’s your day off been going?” Yu asks as he deadpans.

Yosuke scoffs and decides to deflect his dumb question, “Why’d you bring poor Nanako-san to a place like this on Golden Week?”

Chie quirks an eyebrow at him, “Where else is there to go? Besides, she was pretty excited to come here.”

Nanako beams at him, “I love Junes!” _I will protect this angel with my life._

“And I love Nanako!” He responds with a bright smile of his own, shutting his eyes to ignore the horrifying death glare that Yu is giving him. _Shit! Oh god he’s gonna kill me! Why did I say that?!_

Nanako suddenly looks very sullen, “But we were supposed to go on a real trip somewhere… we were gonna make boxed lunches...” She says sadly.

Narukami drops his glare and gives her a sympathetic smile, but Yukiko speaks first. “Wow! You can make boxed lunches, Nanako-chan?”

Nanako shakes her head and turns to look at Yu, causing everyone else to look at him as well, making him slightly flustered. Yosuke chuckles, “I thought you only cooked for yourself.”

Chie smirks, “Oh, so you’re the family cook? Guess all that time cooking’s getting put to use, huh ‘big bro’?” _‘All that time’? Oh right, he told her the whole story. Guess it was more than just a few times that he had to cook for himself._

Nanako looks at Yu with an expression that’s kind’ve hard to read, “Big… bro.”

Yosuke looks Yu up and down, “Can’t say I’m surprised that you’re a good cook, honestly. You do seem to be great with your hands-” His eyes go wide, “U-um, nevermind.” _...I think my foot is just gonna stay stuck in my mouth for the rest of the day._

Chie sits up straight, “I-I’m a pretty good cook too, you know! ...Probably.” _That’s some bull, I don’t know how I know, but that’s bull._ She wrings her hands awkwardly in her lap, still speaking with apparent faux confidence, “If you’d asked, I would’ve whipped up some boxed lunches. Easy as pie! Yeah…” Yu quirks an eyebrow at the idea of her making a boxed lunch, _I caught that, partner… But I need to save our stomachs, health comes first, ya know._

Yosuke puts a hand to his chin as he looks to Chie, “Uhh, lemme think about-no.” Yu and Yukiko both chuckle at his bluntness.

Chie bristles, “What makes you think I can’t cook?!” Yosuke gives her a ‘really?’ look and she scowls, “Let’s have a cook-off and see for ourselves!”

Yosuke scoffs and waves his hand dramatically, “My, my, doth the lady protest too much? And hey, I never said I cooked.” He looks away from her to look at his surrounding friends, “But I have this weird feeling…” He snaps his gaze back to her with a smug face, “...Like I’d win anyway.”

Chie’s scowl deepens, but it goes to one of surprise when Yukiko-san laughs, “I can understand that.” She says with a knowing smile on her face.

Chie is flabbergasted by the betrayal, but with that assurance from Yukiko-san, Yosuke decides to press on, “Here, Nanako-san can be our judge.” He looks at Nanako and gives her his winning smile with a wink, “I bet we’ll make something that ranks up there with your mom’s cooking, Nanako-san!”

Yu’s eyes widen and he looks to Nanako who’s taking a sip of some juice, she puts her cup down and focuses on nothing in particular. “I don’t have a mom. She died in an accident.”

Yu frowns while everyone else’s eyes go wide, Chie turns to Yosuke and nudges his ankle with her foot, “Hey, Yosuke…” _Only making me feel worse here, Chie…_

“I-I see…umm…” _Yeah, maybe I should just stop talking? My feet seem to have taken permanent residence inside my mouth, and it’d probably be better for everyone if I just shut up._ “Sorry... I didn’t know.” He says sadly while looking down at the table.

Nanako shakes her head and waves both of her hands, making him look up at her. She smiles sweetly, “It’s okay. Even if I don’t have a mom, I have Dad with me.” Her cheeks flush a bit as she continues, her smile widening, “...And now I have a brother, too.” Chie and Yukiko both ‘aww’ at that, and Yu looks very touched. “And I’m having a lot of fun today! I love Junes!”

Yosuke is stunned by how much more mature this little girl is than anyone he’s ever met, “Y-yeah? That’s good.”

Yu laughs, “Wow, Nanako. You broke him.”

Chie leans her elbows on the table, smiling at Yu and Nanako. “We’ll play with you anytime you want, Nanako-chan!”

Yukiko nods and smiles at Nanako as well, “Yeah, we should hang out more often.” She turns to Yu, “Bring her out more, Narukami-kun.”

Yu smirks, “Like I needed to be told. That sound good to you, Nanako?”

Nanako nods vigorously, beaming. Yosuke checks his phone’s clock, _My break’s about to start… huh. Forgot I snuck out of work for this. Oh well, might as well have some more fun._ “C’mon, Nanako-chan. Let’s go get a soda!”

\------

After hanging out for a little while longer, Yosuke did have to go back to work. But he was surprised to see Yu waiting at a table for him. “Figured we could still hang after I walked Nanako home, it sucked that you had to work today.”

Yosuke shrugs as he takes the seat opposite Yu, “Eh, it’s Golden Week, what did you expect? Me to actually have time off?”

Yu chuckles, “Wishful thinking, I guess. I am still kinda hungry though, sooo... Junes discount?” He asks with a smirk.

Yosuke laughs and shoots a finger gun at him, “Ya know, hanging out with you here ain’t so bad. Even if we’re short on cash, we can get that discount here. Though there’s a small price to pay in exchange for that…” _As it always is. Every time I come here, I run the risk of gett-_

“Oh, there you are, Hanamura!” A girl’s voice calls out. Yosuke sighs, _Speak of the devil and they shall appear._

Yosuke stands up and turns around, seeing two of his coworkers, and they don’t look happy to see him. Not like he’s happy to see them either, though. “Hello there, Azusagawa-senpai, Kosaka-senpai. What’s wrong today?”

Azusagawa completely ignores his greeting, “You better say something to that blockhead manager! I told him I can’t come in on Saturdays or Sundays. But he’s saying I have to be here since we’re low on staff. And if I’m not, he’ll fire me!”

Yu chimes in, “It’s Golden Week, though…” But they either ignore him, or didn’t hear him since they don’t respond.

Kosaka speaks up, “Isn’t there some kind of law against that?!”

Yosuke taps his foot as he remembers, “Er, but… Didn’t you guys say you could work weekends during your interviews?”

Azusagawa scoffs, “Well yeah, they wouldn’t hire us if we didn’t!”

_…_

“Alright, I got it. I’ll try talking with him… But you don’t want to get fired, right?” The two girls share a look, then nod hesitantly. “It’d be a lot easier for me to strike a deal if you could show up every now and again on weekends...” They both nod again and huff as they walk away.

Yosuke sighs and is just about to retake his seat when another voice calls out to him, “Oh, Yosuke-kun. Just the man I was looking for.” He turns to look at the woman who spoke, yet another coworker, but one he was working with today.

He rubs the back of his neck, “Ohhhh… hi, Takahara-san.” He greets reluctantly.

The thirty-something woman waves before speaking, “Hear me out! Remember that claim I had the other day? Well, the head butcher said…” Yosuke interrupts her and asks her if they can continue their conversation away from Narukami, which they do. He completely zones her out as she rambles on for at least five minutes.

He slumps back into his chair, now even more mentally exhausted. “It’s finally over… I’m not the damn complaints department…”

Yu looks at him with a smile, “You’re incredible, partner. I don’t think I could handle that much nonsense.”

Yosuke smirks and winks at him, “Dude, it’s nothing but trouble!” His smile falters though as he thinks about why everyone treats him like they do. He sighs, “Geez… Everyone’s just trying to take advantage of me as the Junes kid.” He shrugs before continuing, “Maybe if I was free I wouldn’t mind it as much, but we have the murders to deal with. I don’t have time for this.”

Yosuke looks to his partner with a look of determination, “Can the police really handle the killer? Can the law really convict whoever’s behind this...?” Yosuke shakes his head, “Once I started worrying about that stuff, I knew I couldn’t bother with anything else. I have to do what I can…” _For her…_

To his surprise, Yu chuckles. “That’s the spirit, Yosuke.” He comments jovially. _Does nothing phase this guy at all?_

Yosuke scoffs with a smile on his face, “Don’t get carried away, man! You’re making me feel like I said something crazy…” He looks out to the shopping district, “You know, I never thought I’d be talking about serious stuff like this. Before… Before I moved out here, it was all small talk. Stupid, trivial things. I thought that was fine… It’s only with you guys that I talk seriously like this.”

Yosuke locks eyes with Yu, the latter nodding, “Go on.”

Yosuke nods, “I dunno why, but I feel like I don’t have to lie. Especially with you. You’ve already seen the worst of me and all.” He fixes his partner with his winning smile, “But well…thinking about it now, if someone had to see that, I’m glad it was you. It’s a bit late now, but… Thanks for going in there with me that time.”

Yu runs a hand through his hair, “If we’re being honest… I didn’t want to.” Yosuke’s eyes go wide, _Wasn’t expecting that…_ His reaction must’ve made Yu smirk, because he is now. “But you were going in there no matter what, and I wasn’t about to let someone who was becoming my friend to die alone when I have the ability to save them.” _So he really is a hero, through and through, huh? Guess my gut instinct was right back then._

Yosuke stands up, “Thanks partner, I’ll be in your debt till I can do something that matches what that meant to me.” Before he can possibly be teased, Yosuke speaks up again. “Man, I’m starting to get hungry. All right, I’ll see if I can get a deal with the guy at the meat counter and try out the Meat Lover’s Combo! You want one, partner?”

Yu smiles, “I’m gonna be tackling the Mega Beef Bowl whenever it rains, so I need all the practice I can get. So, hell yeah, Yosuke. Bring the meat.”

Yosuke smirks, _Chie’s really having an impact on this guy, in more than one way too…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A mystery within the Velvet Room... Kinda spooky...
> 
> Next chapter's gonna be pretty Yu/Chie centric, so be ready for that.
> 
> If you'd like potential updates on this fic (I mostly just retweet art and tweet out memes/questions) then follow me on twitter! https://twitter.com/BeezyPepto
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed and see you next week!


	9. A Romcom Filled with Static

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu shows us how he handles internal conflicts...(poorly)
> 
> Chie tries to make sense of Yu's nonsensical behavior...(poorly)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 40 Kudos and 1000 Hits!!!
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading this story, I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing, and I hope you continue to do so for however long this goes!

**5/04 Wednesday**

***Yu POV***

Yesterday was nice. Hanging out with his friends, _Still getting used to thinking that…_ was great fun, but what really made his day was being able to make Nanako smile. He’s only known her for a few weeks, but she’s barely showed any signs of happiness if her dad isn’t around, and even then she still doesn’t smile too much. She reminds him too much of himself when he was her age.

After parting ways with Yosuke, he decided to grab another bite to eat. The Meat Lover’s Combo proved to feel like nothing more than a snack, which was odd, considering the amount of food that was provided. He found himself at Aiya, seeing as Souzai Daigaku was closed by the time he left Junes, spotting Chie standing outside of the restaurant.

They talked for a bit, some playful teasing, less playful kicking for said playful teasing. Eventually feeling that they’ve talked for enough, well, she did, he had forgotten what he came there for and just got caught up in the friendly conversation. As she was walking him home, he decided to ask if she wanted to train tomorrow, he didn't know what possessed him to ask, but he couldn't deny that he was happy when she said she would, even though he’d rather he wasn’t.

\------

It’s a bright and sunny morning as Yu steps out of the shower, recalling how he made his plans for today. He dries himself off and gets dressed, expecting to see Nanako when he walks downstairs. To his surprise, she’s nowhere to be found. He immediately starts searching the rest of the house for her, finding no signs of her anywhere. He’s about to start getting worried when he spies a pale pink note on the kitchen counter.

It’s a Loveline paper, delicately ripped out of a notebook or something judging by the partially torn top and bottom left edges. “Good morning, Big Bro!” He can’t help but smile at that, Chie had made a joke yesterday, probably an attempt at teasing him by calling him Nanako’s ‘big bro’, but Nanako seemed to take a shine to it. She’s only been addressing him as Big Bro for a day now, but now he can’t imagine her calling him anything else.

He shakes his head, smile still on his face as he continues reading. “I went to Junes to get groceries, I’ll be back later. Don’t worry about the laundry, I already brought it in since it might rain tonight. See you soon!” The dot on the exclamation mark is a little smiley face, _She’s really a cute kid. I don’t think she’d appreciate me throwing this away, so maybe if I just…_ He begins going through the motions that have become muscle memory, this is one of his pastimes from when he was a kid, after all. He flexes the wings and puts it back on the counter, the note completing its transformation from a ‘be back soon’ to a well made origami crane.

He smiles at his creation as he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. Stopping, he looks down at the bottle in his hand, _I’m fairly confident this is the same water bottle I got on my first day here… Did I just put it in the fridge and forget about it? Huh…_ He shrugs and exits the house, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air. As he’s about to walk to the floodplain, he decides to make a detour to the shopping district, _Might as well grab a snack for the both of us._

\------

Sitting on the bench by the river, the two teenagers munch on their steak skewers. He dislikes how much he relished in making Chie smile by simply getting her a skewer before they trained. “You know…” Yu starts quietly speaking, mouth still partially full. He swallows and continues “I was never really much of a meat person, but I think I’m starting to become one.”

Chie chews a bit more, then covers her mouth as she speaks. “Fteak ifh thuh beft fing evuh.” She finishes chewing and swallows, “I can’t imagine not being a meat person, that sounds like a horrible way of life! I’d rather die than go one day without the juicy, tenderness of meat!” She says dramatically, clutching her chest as though the idea physically hurts her.

He hates how she can make his thoughts cease by simply laughing at her own bit. _I shouldn’t be feeling this…_ He smiles at her, “You’re certainly…passionate about meat.”

She smiles, but it falters. She looks to the ground with a frown, “...Is that weird?” She asks in a small voice.

Yu shakes his head as he stands up, having finished his skewer as well. “No, in fact, I think it’s pretty inspiring that you can be so forwardly passionate about something. I kind’ve envy you for that, in all honesty.”

Why does his heart skip a beat when she beams at him? She jumps up from her seat and starts bouncing from foot to foot like she does inside the TV, “Alllright! Now that I’m full of steak and in a good mood, let’s get to trainin’!”

“Oh, Big Bro?” A familiar voice calls out, the teens turn to see Nanako walking over to them with a small smile on her face and a plastic Junes bag around her arm. “Hi!”

Chie smiles at her, “Yo, Nanako-chan! What did ya get at Junes?”

Nanako makes the bag gently swing from side to side by moving her arm slightly, “Just some groceries.”

Chie turns her attention towards Yu and narrows her eyes, leaning forward a bit. “You made her go food shopping all by herself?!” She asks in an angry voice.

Yu reflexively takes a step backwards, “She was up before I was, and she didn’t even try to wake me up to help.” She relaxes her glare as he finishes. _God, don’t look at me like that…that was genuinely scary._

Nanako decides to crush any remaining possibility of an argument by changing the subject, “What are you doing out here?” She asks with innocent curiosity.

Chie hops in place and smiles at her, “We’re training, of course!”

Nanako’s eyes sparkle with curiosity and excitement, “Training...who are you fighting with, Chie?” _Technically, herself._ He laughs inwardly.

Chie looks up in thought, stuffing her hands into her pockets, “Hmmm…” She glances at Yu, then back to Nanako. “Myself… I guess?” Yu’s eyes widen, moreso at they had the same train of thought and less so at her telling this to a bystander in their investigation. She notices his shocked face and laughs nervously, “J-just kidding!”

“Wow, cool!” They’re both relieved by Nanako’s simple and excited response.

Chie blushes from embarrassment, and laughs bashfully, “Y-you think so?”

Nanako’s head shifts from smiling at Chie to looking at the ground, “Oh, a grasshopper!”

Chie yelps and starts fidgeting, “Huh?! W-where is it?!” Yu quirks an eyebrow at her behavior, unaware of the growing smirk on his face. _Is she…scared of insects?_  
Nanako’s eyes carefully follow its trajectory as Chie grows increasingly more uncomfortable. It leaps from place to place, not following any sort of pattern or logic. It makes one hop and lands in between Chie and Yu, then it prepares for its final hop, and its destination reveals itself as it soars through the air…

...Chie’s back.

Yu stifles a laugh as he speaks, “I-it’s on your back.” He barely finishes the sentence before Chie starts screaming.

She runs in front of him and turns around, “Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffme!”

He reaches and grabs the grasshopper, being careful not to crush it, but also not to let go of it. “You don’t like grasshoppers?” Nanako asks as she watches Yu take hold of the insect.

Chie vigorously shakes her head, “I’m no good with anything with thin, jointed legs! Or anything creepy or squirmy!” She shudders, her face riddled with disgust. “Now I can’t get ‘em out of my mind! I can’t stand those things!”

Nanako tilts her head at Chie, “But they’re cute…”

Chie sighs, “...You’re like Yukiko.” Yu looks at her inquisitively and she turns to him, “Oh, see, cause Yukiko’s fine around bugs.” She looks away from his eyes, frowning a bit. “But me, I totally lose it… Kinda funny, huh?” She asks in a tone he can’t really read...

...So he says the first thing that comes to head, “It’s cute, actually.” He inwardly kicks himself, _That shouldn’t be my first thought._

“Uh, hey… Wh-what’re you saying?!” He’s brought out of his angry thoughts by Chie panicking and becoming a flustered mess because of his words. He sees Nanako narrow her eyes at him, but then she shifts her gaze to Chie with a bright smile.

He runs his free hand through his hair, _Have I ever felt this conflicted? It might be too early to say that she’s one of my best friends, but she’s definitely a good friend. It’s natural to tease the people you’re close with, but is it normal if it’s the first thing that you think of doing?_ He shakes his head to try and quell that unbearable feeling in his stomach. _These feelings mean nothing, you’ll be alone again sooner than later. Ignore them, it’ll be better that way._

“Narukami?” He’s pulled out of his thoughts by Chie looking at him with concern, and Nanako with… smugness? _Weird…_ “Are you gonna train with us? Or are you just gonna stand there?” Chie teases, poking him in his side. _How long was I thinking?_

Yu narrows his eyes at her, and lifts up the grasshopper still in his grasp to her eye level. She screams and jumps backwards, stumbling as she lands. He smirks, preparing to take a step forward to continue his assault, but those thoughts reemerge in his head. He runs his free hand through his hair and lets go of the grasshopper as he sighs. “Yeah, let’s get to it.”

Both girls look at him with confusion before Nanako giggles, “I bet he’s just not excited to get beat up again.”

He rolls his eyes as both girls laugh. He’ll let them have this one.

\------

Nanako decided to only stay for an hour, since she had groceries to bring back home. As she leaves, Chie turns to Yu. “I’m gonna get over my fear of bugs. I don’t wanna look like a sissy next to Nanako-chan!” She pumps her fists excitedly, “All I have to do is think of them like Shadows! Then I’ll be able to grab a whole fistful!” She goes silent for a second, then shivers. “...I just gave myself goosebumps.”

Yu chuckles softly, “I’m sure you will. If Shadows don’t scare you, then at one point, nothing will.”

She scratches her cheek with her index finger, “I don’t know about that… Bugs are one thing, but I don’t know how I could get over some of my other fears…” Her eyes widen and she waves her hands back and forth dismissively, “N-not that I have a lot of fears.”

He flashes her a reassuring smile, failing to ignore the feeling he gets when she blushes from it. “It doesn’t matter how many fears you have. You’re strong, Satonaka, you can do anything you put your mind to. Now let’s train a bit more, yeah?” He asks with a wink.

As they train, he finds himself doing the exercises more aggressively than he had before. He makes sure to compose himself and do the techniques calmly. _I’m starting to get mad at myself._

Clouds start to roll in, so they train for a bit longer, Yu being mindful not to slip-up and show his confliction. Now that they’re both sufficiently sweaty they decide to call it for the day, both staring at the other is they catch their breath.

“Huh? It’s Chie, whatcha doin’?” An unfamiliar voice speaks up, turning to look, Yu sees a boy around his age with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He’s wearing a black jacket and matching pants with a red shirt underneath, and some gold necklace he can’t identify.

Chie immediately flusters for some reason, and she turns around with a quickness. “T-Takeshi?!” She uprights herself and wipes the sweat from her face with the sleeve of her jacket. “W-well…training! I’m working out!”

Takeshi quirks an eyebrow at her, the ghost of a smirk on his face. “Huh? When’re you gonna graduate to being king of the hill?” Yu narrows his eyes at this new guy. _Is he mocking her?_

Chie tilts her head, still somewhat flustered. “K-king of the hill?”

Takeshi chuckles a bit before he speaks with a nostalgic look on his face, “In kindergarten it was the Runt Gang, in elementary school you were an Ally of Justice…” He puts a hand to his chin in thought, snapping his fingers. “Middle school, it was the Vanguards of the Lunch Revolution, wasn’t it?” _Alright, that one’s kinda funny…_ Takeshi laughs again, although there’s, what Yu feels at least, an air of condescension now. “So what is it now? You a Protector of Earth’s Peace or something?”

_So he is mocking her._ He lets some of that anger out as he interrupts Chie as she’s about to respond, “That’s enough, quit bagging on her.” He demands quietly as he takes a step to stand next to her.

Chie looks at him with surprise, and Takeshi looks at him with a bit of fear. “Oh, uhhh… I didn’t mean it in a mean way.” He holds out a hand, “I’m Takeshi Kouno. I was with Chie up until middle school.” _…’With Chie’?_

Yu looks at his hand, then back to his eyes. Feeling another unpleasant emotion for some reason, he lets some more anger out. “Yu Narukami.” Yu says as he puts his hands into his pockets.

Takeshi awkwardly retracts his hand, stuffing it back into his pocket. “...I’m not gonna get in you guy’s way.” His eyes glance between the two of them.

That insinuation might’ve flustered him if he wasn’t in control of his emotions, like before at Aiya. But it does fluster Chie further, “W-wait what are you saying-”

Takeshi clears his throat, probably not noticing that he interrupted her. “Oh, how’s Yukiko-san doing? She have a boyfriend yet?” _This guy just gets worse and worse._

Chie seems confused by the sudden topic change, but she answers anyway. “She’s fine… and no, I don’t think so.”

Takeshi nods with a small smile on his face, “Cool, cool. She still good-looking? Maybe I should try for her again… Anyways, I’ll leave ya to it. Say hi to Yukiko-san for me.” He waves as he walks away from the two of them.

The conflict in his head has been getting worse throughout this whole exchange, but it reaches a peak when he sees that Chie looks kind of sad to watch him leave. He finds himself at a loss of what to do to either break the wall that just formed between them, or to cheer her up.

‘It’s not healthy to keep your emotions bottled up’, or so every book on psychology he’s read says. So he could either let loose and probably lose her as a friend, or he could moderate himself.

_Fuck it._

He takes the hand he denied Takeshi out of his pocket, and reaches with it to take hold of Chie’s own. Just as his fingertips brush her knuckles, she recoils backwards, face as red as a tomato. “Huh? W-what?! O-oh, you wanna spar?!” She laughs awkwardly, but stops abruptly when she looks him in the eyes, her blush quickly fading. “A-are you okay, Narukami?”

He runs a hand through his hair, _Must’ve let it show on my face… now instead of laughing it off, she’s worried. Nice job, jackass._ He sighs, “That guy pissed me off.” He decides to not bring up why he reached for her hand.

And she seemingly decides not to ask. “Yeah, sorry. He’s really rude, huh?” She sighs as she looks off into the direction he walked away in, “Seriously, he was always staring at Yukiko…” She must’ve read into the look in his eyes as she continues. “D-don’t get me wrong, he’s nothing but an old classmate to me!” She looks to the ground, smiling somewhat sadly, “We’re just friends, y’know? ...We used to get that a lot, though.”

_…_

She looks at Yu with a smile, he can’t tell if it’s forced or not, though. “B-but that’s all in the past! Let’s head home, yeah?”

_…_

“Sure, but you must be thirsty after all this training, right?” Chie looks at him with utter confusion as he tosses his half empty water bottle towards her. She catches it and immediately blushes at his implication. He shrugs, forcing a smirk on his face, “We’ve already shared once, right? Doesn’t matter if we do it again.” _Please just let me have this._

She fidgets in place, “B-but that was an a-accident. I don’t think we should make this a thing that we do…”

_…_

He shakes his head. It takes a lot more willpower than he expected to not tease her by saying ‘...Yet?’ So instead he just asks “You doing anything this Saturday?”

She blinks at the question, looking down at the water bottle in her hands that he’s now seemingly ignoring. “Uhh, no… why?”

“It’s supposed to rain the next few days, yeah?” She nods. “I’ve been meaning to try the Mega Beef Bowl, thought it could be fun if we went together.” _Why am I doing this?_

Chie looks at the bottle in her hands, face still rather red. “Is-is it a… y’know…?”

_…_

He just chuckles, attempting to ignore his thoughts. “Nah, we’d just be hanging out, eating our fair share of meat.”

Chie nods thoughtfully for a few seconds, _Why does she look conflicted too?_ “Sure, it’ll be fun!” She beams at him, though he can’t tell if it’s genuine or not. “You’ll finally get to experience…” She drops her voice a few pitches, “...the Meat Dimension.”

Yu snorts, inwardly shocked at how much that one joke lifted his mood. “Sounds really good.” He’s about to ask if he can walk her home, but when he looks at her smile, his mood falls again. “See you at school Friday, Satonaka.” He gives her a wave and a smile, hoping they seem happy, then turns and walks away.

_…_

_Make up your fucking mind, Narukami._

\------

**5/06 Friday**

***Chie POV***

“I’m telling you guys, he was acting weird!” Chie claims to Yosuke and Yukiko a few minutes before class starts, Narukami having not arrived yet.

Yukiko hums, “Did something happen while you two were hanging out? Or was he already seeming different before then?”

_That’s a good question… He seemed normal at first, but after him, Nanako and I started training he started just going silent randomly. Then Takeshi showed up and he was like a completely different guy._ She sighs at the memory of that. _Seeing both of them in the same place completely threw me off. Takeshi’s always been like that, but Narukami…_ She can’t tell whether she should blush or shiver at the face he made when he denied the handshake.

She leans her arms on her desk, “He got a lot more… active…? When Takeshi showed up.”

Yukiko quirks an eyebrow, “Takeshi?” She can see the gears turning in her friend’s head, “Do I know him?” Chie snorts, _She never remembers a guy she rejected._

She turns to the guy who’s been strangely quiet this whole time, “How ‘bout you Yosuke? You know anything?”

Yosuke puts a hand to his chin, “Partner’s a weird guy, maybe something totally unrelated happened and it put him in a mood.” He reasons.

Chie shakes her head, “No, he was acting normal until we started training, then he got really different when Takeshi showed up.” _Do they know each other or something? ...No, Takeshi tried to shake his hand…_

Yukiko chuckles to herself, drawing both of the others attention, “Maybe he got jealous.”

Yosuke starts coughing and Chie blushes furiously, denying the possibility. “T-there’s n-no way.”

Yosuke catches his breath, “I’ll just ask him about it, he’s the kinda guy you gotta be direct with, guy never says anything unless he’s asked about it.”

The classroom door slides open, revealing the topic of conversation. He walks over and sits at his desk after setting down his belongings. “What’s up, guys?”

Play it cool! “N-nothing!” She says much louder than she wanted to, feeling her face get even hotter due to the embarrassment. _...Smooth._

Yosuke shakes his head and sighs, “‘Sup, Yu? How was the rest of your Golden Week?”

Narukami shoots a glance towards, then back to Yosuke. “Pretty good, nothing too eventful.” He quietly says. Yosuke smirks and leans in towards Narukami, whispering something that neither her nor Yukiko can hear. After Yosuke pulls away, Narukami has the same look on his face when he was leaving the floodplain. “No, Yosuke.”

Yosuke seems slightly taken aback by the tone of his response. “O-oh, alright then.” Narukami looks to the front of the class, and when he’s out of his sight, Yosuke shrugs and raises an eyebrow towards the two girls, causing the two of them to look at the other with concern.

\------

Class ends, and Yosuke begins making small talk with Narukami, and Chie decides to follow suit. _Let’s just try some small talk…_ “Ugh, why do the holidays have to end so fast..?”

Yosuke shrugs with a smile on his face, “At least they were peaceful. I listened in on the housewives at Junes, and it didn’t sound like anything happened. Haven’t heard anything about someone suddenly disappearing, either…” He turns to Narukami, “Y’think Yukiko-san could’ve been the last of the victims?”

Narukami rubs the back of his neck, “I doubt this is over, they’re probably just waiting for their next one.”

Chie hums, and Yukiko speaks up. “I don’t know, but we shouldn’t relax as long as the culprit remains at large.”

Everyone except Yosuke nods at that, who has a pensive look on his face as he folds his arms. “I wonder…Will someone show up on TV again if it rains?”

Chie shrugs, “Eh, it’s no good fretting over it now. If someone does show up on the Midnight Channel, then we’ll deal with it. It’s supposed to start raining soon anyway.” She sighs, “I hope it doesn’t rain during midterms...”

Yosuke groans, anguish on his face. “You had to go and bring that up… I don’t wanna think about it.”

Chie sighs while looking at Yukiko, who’s just glancing between the three of them. “I wish I had Yukiko’s gift for studying…” A lightbulb goes off in her head, “Hey Yosuke, why don’t you have Yukiko go over some of the material with you?”

Yosuke seems surprised for a second before he nods. “Oh that’s right! Yukiko-san’s ranked at the top every exam.” He smiles brightly, “Maybe I should ask you for some private lessons.” _This guy…_

Yukiko’s cheeks tinge pink as she looks at Yosuke shocked, “P-private lessons?!”

Yosuke tilts his head with genuine confusion, “What’s wrong?” Yukiko takes a few steps towards him and slaps him… hard. _Saw that coming._ He immediately starts rubbing the. now red, left side of his face. “What was that for?! I’m just asking you to help me study…”

Yukiko looks genuinely apologetic, “Oh, I’m sorry… You were talking about studying… I thought it might’ve been an off-color joke. Our inn has had some strange visitors lately…”

Yosuke’s not having it. “If you thought it was a joke, then just shrug it off!”

Yukiko looks a little more apologetic than before, “Sorry… my hand moved without thinking.”

Yosuke sighs, irritation still evident on his half-red face, “Geez…” He turns to glare at Chie, “Thanks a whole lot for bringing up studying, Chie.”

_What’s he blaming me for?!_ “W-what’d I do?!” She points a finger at him, “You’re the one who made it sound all creepy and wrong! “Private lessons,” huh?”

Narukami smirks and is about to say something before his smile falls and he stops himself. All of them take notice of that, the would-be argument falling into silence.

“I should probably head home, Nanako’s expecting me.” He says as he stands up. All of them share a look, and he starts walking out of the class.

Yukiko lets her concern show on her face, “So distant…” _Yeah… it’s like he’s walking out of-_

Yosuke kicks Chie’s desk, “Go after him!” He hisses, although his voice is kind’ve... encouraging?

_Huh?!_ “Why me?! You’re his best friend!” She argues because, of course he is.

But Yosuke’s face shifts to one of befuddlement, “What? No way, **you** are.” He emphasizes by pointing at her. “He told you the full story about his voice, and he’s hung out with you waaaaayy more than me.”

Yukiko tilts her head, “There’s a story about his voice?” _Sheesh, Yukiko…_

Her question goes unanswered as Yosuke speaks again, “None of us have any idea what’s going through his head, but if anyone of us can find out, it’s probably you.” Chie begins to stammer out an argument but he interrupts her, “Runnin’ out of time here, Chie.”

_Does he really see me as his best friend, though? All I’ve done is embarrass him and bring back bad memories, that was probably why he didn’t tell Yosuke the full story. ...Do I see him as a best friend? He’s really easy to talk to, probably cuz he doesn’t say much, but he’s always reluctant to talk about himself, like he’s hiding himself. He teases me all the time too, and he flirts then says nothing about it and acts as if it’s the most normal thing in the world! Always...Always giving me those handsome smiles and… and reaching for my hand when I’m sad… He was there for me when I faced myself…_

_…_

Is it okay to have a crush on one of your best friends?

She’d have to ask Yukiko later, since she’s already left the classroom. She wishes that she had a better reason other than ‘wanting to be there for him,’ but since she has no idea what he’s thinking or going through, she has to settle for that. Simply helping one of the boys who saved her life.

She catches sight of him walking out of the front entrance, he’s unmissable due to his hair. She rushes past a bunch of other students, stomping on some more discarded love letters. _From his locker, no doubt._ She pushes through the entrance doors to see him walking past the gate.

She latches onto his sleeve, causing him to turn around with wide eyes. She lets go of the sleeve to catch her breath, as he runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “Something up?” He says in his quiet and husky voice that she’s come to really like.

And she’d hate to lose it, “N-Narukami…” She says with labored breathing, and thankfully he lets her rest before continuing. “I don’t know what you’re going through, b-but you were there for me when I saw my darkest thoughts...” She looks up into his eyes, seeing so many emotions swirling in his silver pools, willing herself not to blush, she speaks for the final time. “...So I wanna be there for you too, you can talk to me.”

He rubs the back of his neck with a look on his face she can’t read. “...Thanks.” He says, turning around. “I’ll uhh, see you tomorrow, Satonaka.” His voice shakes slightly.

_...I tried my best…_ She tries not to let the sadness from her failure into her voice, failing once again. “Y-yeah. See you, Naruka-”

“Yu.” He interrupts, turning around to look at her now surprised face. “Call me ‘Yu’ from now on.” His leg is shaking, and his face is somewhat sad, she thinks. But… there’s the smallest curl upwards on his lips as he turns away again, beginning his walk home.

Chie stands there by the gates of the school, completely frozen by confusion. But she begins to thaw as her face heats up. Her crush just gave her permission to address him by first name. She’s tapped on the shoulder by Yukiko with Yosuke behind her, both looking at her with concern. 

“W-what just happened?” Chie squeaks out, barely above a whisper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yu was frustrating as hell to write for this chapter. Trying to show how badly he wants to be close to people but his fears not letting that happen easily was a challenge and a half. I liked how this came out, but if at some point I realized I could've used more of his character to portray it, I might go back and rewrite this one, since it's a pretty important chapter to this ship.
> 
> In other news, I've come to realize that I get very flustered from praise, so I apologize to any future commenters who praise me or the story in any way since I kinda just spew out thank you's when I don't know what to say.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you think!


	10. Maybe We Should Change the Channel?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chie answers some of Yukiko's new questions.
> 
> Yu hangs with Yosuke and eats some meat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Thank you all for 1200 hits!
> 
> Small question at the end of this chapter, feel free to answer if you're interested!

**5/07 Saturday**

A deep, loud rumble roars throughout the countryside. A thick blanket of rain drenches everything beneath the dark clouds. A storm grows closer, evident by the claps of thunder increasing in volume and speed. The rain falls heavier, as a bolt of lightning streaks it’s way down to a transformer.

...

All the lights go out the instant that the thunder claps. The dark grey sky fills all who see it with a sense of weariness; an innate fear, as it provides them with dim light that fills them further with dread.

...

Or maybe it’s just Chie. _I wasn’t being serious when I said to strike Yosuke!_ He had teased her for being afraid of some lightning, saying that she shouldn’t be scared and that maybe she could take after one of her movies and learn something from it. What a buffoon, he blatantly ignores that there is a one in two hundred eighty thousand to be struck by lightning!

...Not like she’s done any research on that or anything, though.

Yosuke clicks his tongue and shakes his head at her, “That’s what you get for saying that stuff, Chie.” He pulls out his phone and checks the time, “...I should head to work, depending on how produce sells today, I might get a little bonus in my pay for the week.” He looks to Naru-...Yu, and smirks. He jerks his thumb to the storm outside the window, “This’ll probably keep customers away, but I gotta do my best to save up for a motorcycle!” His phone starts ringing the second he finishes speaking, and he walks away from the three to answer the call.

Yu turns to face her and Yukiko, he begins speaking quietly. “So-” He’s immediately interrupted by the crack of lightning followed by thunder, to which he closes his eyes and nods while breathing a frustrated sigh out of his nose.

Chie’s kind of glad for that though. Her head has been in an interesting state since yesterday; more specifically since Yu told her to call him by his given name. She had been aware of her attraction to the boy since he arrived in Inaba, but only at Aiya when they celebrated saving Yukiko did she realize that, just maybe, her feelings go a little deeper than attraction. And now, being told to call him by his first name and the possible implications of it has proven difficult to stop overthinking about.

But the thunderstorm outside is giving her a respite from that line of thought, albeit at the cost of her comfort. “Hey, Yukiko… can we just go home?” She asks her friend with a shaky voice.

Yukiko turns to her with a smile on her face, a smile she knows all too well. _Oh no…_ “Chie, do you know this story?” _Oh no…_ Yu opens his eyes and quirks an eyebrow at Yukiko, she speaks again in a lower voice. “A girl forgot her homework, so she snuck into school in the middle of the night, but she suddenly needed to use the bathroom...She ventured into the girls’ room, where all the lights were off. No one should have been there, but in the mirror…”

_I can’t take anymore!_ Chie slams a hand on her desk, “Hold it right there! What’re you talking about?!” She speaks fast and fearfully.

Yukiko looks completely surprised by her outburst, “It’s a ghost story, I thought you liked them.”

Chie can’t tell if she’s feigning innocence or if she genuinely thought that now would be a good time to tell one. “Yeah, but why tell it now?!”

Yukiko tilts her head, “I thought it might help take your mind off the storm.”

Chie vigorously shakes her head, “No! Now I’m twice as scared!”

She feels a hand touch her shoulder, and for a moment she’s horrified that a ghost is grabbing her, but it’s a warm hand. She turns and sees Yu with his right hand on her shoulder. “Just take it easy. Deep breaths.” He says with a small smile as he pulls his hand away. She’s once again glad the storm is here, because since it’s so dim in the classroom, no one can see that she’s blushing.

She takes a deep breath, _I’m surprised he didn’t tease me, could he tell I was actually freaking out?_ She exhales, “Thanks, Yu-kun... I’m glad you’re here...” He winks at her and her blush deepens, still hidden in the dim light.

Yukiko leans in towards Chie, her gaze bouncing between her and Yu, but just as she opens her mouth to speak, Yosuke comes back over to the three of them. “...There goes my bonus...” He grumbles before he looks at Chie, sighing as he begins. “If you’re so scared, why not just have him escort you back home, Chie?”

Chie bristles, “A-are you making fun of me?!” She wanted to come off more intimidating, but her voice is still shaking a bit.

Yosuke scoffs and waves one of his hands dismissively, “Well, yeah. With how freaked out you are, can you blame me?” _Ugh, I can always count on Yosuke-_

Another flash of lightning, another roll of thunder, another yelp from Chie. Yosuke snorts at her, making her shoot a menacing glare his way, while Yu and Yukiko chuckle to themselves. “Do you have any sense of self preservation?” Yu asks Yosuke with a smirk.

Light fills the room again, only this time it’s not the wrath of some angry god; not accompanied by the familiar boom. Only the dull hum of the fluorescents, the soothing bright white light overcasting the imposing grey from the storm.

_Thank god!_ Chie jumps out of her seat and grabs her belongings, stuffing her books and papers haphazardly into her backpack. “Come on, Yukiko, let’s go home!” At Yukiko’s nod, Chie gives an exhausted wave to the two boys and leaves the class.

“See ya later, guys!” She hears Yosuke call out after them, _I’ll take that as Na-...Yu-kun saying goodbye, too._ She blushes at her inner embarrassment, making Yukiko raise an eyebrow at her, but she doesn’t ask any questions.

Or rather she doesn’t ask anything while they’re inside the school. “Chie,” Yukiko starts underneath her red umbrella, turning to look at Chie underneath her swanky new green umbrella. “I never got to ask what happened yesterday.”

Chie looks ahead and spins her umbrella as she lets out a sigh, “I still don’t know what’s up with him, I told him he could talk to me and…” _‘Call me Yu from now on.’_ She blushes and looks at the ground, speaking a decent bit quieter, “...Then he said thanks and left.”

She still feels Yukiko’s eyes on her, but she doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, and just as her blush started to fade and the rain started to slow a bit, Yukiko bumped her umbrella into hers.

“Earlier in class when he helped you calm down…” Chie looks to her best friend with a quizzical expression, seeing that Yukiko is looking ahead with a ghost of a smirk on her face. “...You called him ‘Yu-kun.’” Chie blanches, then blushes as she becomes incredibly focused on the wet concrete beneath her. “You weren’t calling him that yesterday, so something had to have happened then.”

She can practically hear the smile on her friend’s face, so she decides to keep her eyes on her feet. “...He just told me to, okay?” She hopes that’s enough to sate her curiosity, considering that Chie doesn’t really know why he said that herself.

But of course it isn’t. Yukiko stops walking as they reach an intersection, “Chie, I know we normally don’t talk about stuff like this-well at least within the last few years, but…” Chie finally looks up at Yukiko, “Do you…like Narukami-kun?” Chie stiffens, standing perfectly straight. “It would make a lot of things make sense. Like how flustered you were when you read Yosuke-kun’s note about him giving us those gifts, and how you’re still struggling to find out what to get him. Oh! And-”

“I get the idea!” Chie is fairly confident her face can’t get any hotter, but she’s not willing to find out if it can. _I don’t know why I thought I could play it cool, I never can._ She sighs, avoiding her friend’s gaze as she looks at her with a cocked eyebrow. “Maybe…” She says, her voice small and her face hot as she fidgets. She spins her umbrella, “It’s just-” She struggles to find the words she wants to say, groaning in frustration. “-It feels like he’s the first guy who’s noticing me, but at the same time, it’s like he doesn’t even see me, ya know what I mean?”

Yukiko tilts her head up, looking at the roof of her umbrella. She hums and turns back to Chie, “Not at all.” _Wuh!_ “But I think you should go for it. From what I’ve seen, he’s strong-willed, funny, the good kind of weird and caring.” Yukiko looks ahead and smiles gently, _Hmm?_ “Doesn’t hurt that he’s also very handsome.” _It’s definitely not a minus…_

Chie’s giving deep consideration to closing her umbrella so the rain can cool her face down, since this conversation has done her no favors. “I’ve barely known him for a month; less than that, actually. I don’t wanna ruin our friendship because I’ve got feelings for him that he doesn’t share.” Her blush fades, and she’s surprised at how eloquently that comes out, and it seems like Yukiko is too.

“Wow, Chie. That’s incredibly mature.” _I don’t think so… I think a real woman would try and take charge of her emotions and use them to woo the guy. Like they do on TV and movies._ “Do you know for certain that Narukami-kun doesn’t feel the same way?” Chie’s snapped out of her thoughts by a question that has plagued her mind since Aiya.

Chie thinks about hiding her true thoughts on this, but after all Yukiko and her have gone through, she shouldn’t hide from herself anymore. “Why would he...?” She says with a frown, not only from revealing that part of her thoughts, but also of the thought that came after it. _‘When you’re in front of him too?’_

Yukiko furrows her brows and narrows her eyes, a frown adorning her face now. “Now this, we’ve definitely talked about. Chie, you’re energetic, funny, strong, and I feel the need to stress this last one. You’re very beautiful, Chie, even though you’ll deny it to the ends of the earth.”

“...Wassup guys?” Both the girls jump at the familiar voice, turning to see Yosuke and Yu standing under their umbrellas a short distance away. _How did we not hear them coming? Wait, how long have we been standing here?_ Yosuke’s staring at them with curious eyes, while Yu is wearing a neutral expression, almost uninterested. “What’re you doin’? Just talking in the rain?”

Yukiko’s eyes dart to Chie, then to Yu, then to Yosuke. She smiles, “Just asking Chie about why she’s started calling Narukami-kun by his first name.”

Chie splutters, Yosuke coughs and Yu looks at them with a raised brow, but he seems…unconvinced?

Yosuke catches his breath, “Partner, that true?! When did that happen?!”

Yu nods and runs a hand through his hair, that disinterested face returning as he does so. “Yeah, I told her to call me that yesterday. It’s not that big of a deal, is it?” He quietly says, all of them straining to hear him in the rainfall.

_Why’s his leg shaking a bit?_ Yukiko seems dissatisfied with that answer, “That’s what Chie said. But anyway, what are you guys doing together?” She asks.

Yosuke bumps his umbrella into Yu’s, “Me and this guy are gonna hang out at his house! He was talkin’ about some model he brought with him that he wanted to build, so we’re just gonna chill and talk while he does that.”

Chie tilts her head, “Model? Like a boat in a bottle, or a building block set?”

Yu shakes his head, “Mechas. Like F-M06 Brahman.” A near imperceptible smile appears on his face, but it’s gone in an instant. “I never got to build it at my last residence, so I thought I’d try and build it here.” _He’s into mecha shows? I could see him being into Featherman too... I wonder if he likes kung fu movies…_

Yukiko blinks and nods, “I never would have guessed.”

Yu shrugs in response, before looking at both of them with a smirk. “I’m full of surprises.” He finishes with a wink, making the both of them blush, Chie deeply while Yukiko only slightly. But he shakes his head and looks away, running a hand through his hair with that disinterested face for some reason. _I wonder if he knows that’s a tick he has…_

All of them notice it, and Yosuke clears his throat. “Well uh...I think it’s time we get going, partner. We’ll see you guys later.”

Yu nods as he begins walking, “We still on for tonight?” But he stops as he asks Chie that.

_Oh right! The Mega Beef Bowl!_ Chie beams, “You know it! I’ll text you!” The butterflies in her stomach are just as excited as she is.

Yu smirks and shakes his head, “Cool, see you Amagi. See you, Satonaka.”

Yukiko’s eyes bounce between the two of them, then she spins her umbrella. “See you later, Narukami-kun.”

The two boys begin walking away, Yosuke turning back a few times with exaggerated hand movements when he’s talking to Yu. _What’s that about?_

“Hey.” Yukiko says as she watches the boys walk away, so Chie turns to her. “I have two questions. One, you have another date tonight?” She says with a smirk, making Chie turn into a tomato.

Chie fidgets, “I-it’s not a date! We’re gonna attempt the Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl Challenge. I don’t think that’d make a good date...” _...It’d make the perfect date. Then we’d end it off by watchi-Gah no! Stop it. I shouldn’t get caught up in fantasies._

Yukiko’s smirk remains plastered on her face, but she quirks an eyebrow; hinting that she knows that Chie thinks it’d be an amazing date. “Then that brings me to my second question.”

Chie sighs and gestures for Yukiko to spit it out.

“Two, if you’re calling him by his given name, why isn’t he calling you by yours?”

\------

***Yu POV***

_...So this is happening, huh?_ He sighs as Yosuke lifts up his futon, checking for...unsavory articles that would need to be hidden from sight.

“I’m surprised you don’t keep the goods under the futon...Under the couch cushions, then?” Yosuke asks with a big smile on his face as he begins moving to the couch.

Yu sighs deeper, running a hand through his hair. “I said it once, I’ll say it again: I’m not into that stuff, Yosuke.”

Yosuke scoffs, “Yea-no. That was about romance, this is about our primal urges.You can’t not be a teenager and not have porn hidden somewhere here.”

Yu shrugs, smirking as he takes a scissor and cuts through some plastic. “Guess I’m not a teen then.”

His friend clicks his tongue, muttering under his breath. “They’re not under the couch either…” He grunts as he pushes the cushions back into place. “Plus, I don’t buy that ‘I’m not into romance’ thing for a second. You’re way too good flirting to not be.”

Yu hums, “Can’t say I know what you’re talking about.” _Please just drop it…_

“Oh yeah?” _...Of course he wouldn’t._ Yosuke snickers, throwing a tissue at Yu’s back. “How bout like thirty minutes ago, when you said ‘I’m full of surprises’ and they both went red?” He lowers his voice in both volume and pitch to impersonate Yu.

Yu doesn’t say anything in response, instead he feigns as though he didn’t hear Yosuke because he’s too focused on reading the instructions on which pieces go where. _Not like I have much ground to stand on anyway. Saying that ‘Making them blush is fun’ might as well be admitting it._

Another tissue hits his back, “So you've been here about a month, right?” Yu gives an affirmative hum, “You ever invite a girl in here?”

Yu puts down the instructions and turns to his friend, who balls up another tissue and hits him right on the nose. Yu sighs as Yosuke fist pumps at his amazing shot, “Out of the two girls I’m friends with; I haven’t. You bring a girl back to yours?”

Yosuke blushes and looks away, “N-not yet…” Heh.

Yu snickers and gives him a devious smirk, “‘Yet?’ So you’re working on someone then?”

Yosuke scoffs, looking up at the ceiling with an expression he can’t read.. “Pfft, with you here?” Yu tilts his head and waits for Yosuke to continue, but he doesn’t. _With me here? What’s that supposed to mean?_

There’s three small knocks on the door, “Big bro, have you seen the public notice anywhere?” Nanako’s voice asks from the other side.

Yosuke jumps up with a smile on his face and opens the door. Nanako jumps a little at the speed in which the door opens, but she smiles when she sees Yosuke. “You free today, Nanako-san?” Yu chuckles at his emphasis.

Nanako shakes her head, “No, I’m gonna go to Takeyoshi-kun’s house with Miwa-chan and Yo-chan.” _Happy to hear that she’s spending time with friends, she seems like the type of girl to have tons of them._

Yosuke thinks something else, however. “A-a guy’s house?!” Yu ‘ahs’ in his realization. Yosuke turns to him, “Dude, say something!” He says hushly. _But she’s six, I can’t say I’m worried she’ll do anything._

Nanako tilts her head, “Takeyoshi-kun sits next to me. I’m gonna deliver the public notice to him. Miwa-chan said she’s going with me because she likes him.” _...Well at least Nanako won’t do anything._

Yosuke rubs the back of his neck with a shocked expression, “Sheesh…kids sure are mature these days.” Yosuke shrugs and a grin adorns his face, “Well, my first love was in first grade, so I guess I’ve always been ahead of my time, too!”

Yu laughs softly, “You sound like an old man.” He’s expecting some kind of retort, or witty comeback, but he instead sees Yosuke frowning.

“I don’t really need that in my life right now...It’s just not the time. I have something I need to do before that can happen…” His voice is somber and his eyes are downcast.

Nanako looks to Yu who’s looking on with concern for his friend, “Is it homework?” Nanako asks innocently as she turns back to Yosuke.

Yosuke smiles faintly, but it leaves as fast as it came. “No...well, maybe it is.” He flashes her a bright smile and a wink, “You’re smart, Nanako-chan!” _‘Chan?’ I’ll let that one slide, he’s clearly going through something._

Nanako beams and looks at the clock by Yu’s futon, “Oh, I should get going.” She turns to Yu, “Can you lock the door behind me?”

Yu nods and follows her downstairs, she puts on an adorable bright pink raincoat and boots, and walks to the door. “Be safe, okay?” Yu says, patting Nanako’s shoulder. She nods and smiles at him before walking out. He locks the door and makes himself a cup of coffee before heading back upstairs.

He walks back in to find Yosuke sitting at his desk, Yu freezes for a moment, but takes a nonchalant sip of his drink as soon as Yosuke looks at him. “Nanako-san called it ‘homework’...” Yu sighs in relief, taking another sip and gesturing for Yosuke to continue. “Catching the killer, ending the murders, bringing peace to town… Only we can do it, huh?” Yosuke shakes his head and turns to Yu with a bright smile, “Let’s do it, I’m counting on you, partner!”

Yu holds out his fist, “Ditto, Yosuke.” He expects Yosuke to return his fistbump, but instead of his fist, he’s tapped on top of his knuckles by a thin book that he’s become acquainted with over the past week or two. _...Shit._

Yosuke laughs heartily, “Gotta say, in between the thick pages of our textbooks...pretty smart, partner!” He says with a shit-eating grin. He pulls… the other one out of another book and appraises it. “So uhh…Athletes and girls in yukata? I think I’m piecing somethin’ together here…”

Yu groans and narrows his eyes at his friend, “Alright, alright. Let me explain myself before you continue down that weird train of thought.” Yosuke’s grin never fades, happy to have been right about Yu. With a sigh and a hand run through his hair, he begins. “Shit, you’re gonna get on my case about this…When Satonaka and I were training for the first time, I found it difficult to focus, and only after we sparred and she won…I didn’t hate how she was pinning me down.” _That wasn’t limited to the first time we trained, but he doesn’t need to know that._

Yosuke’s been holding in laughter the whole time Yu was explaining, so he lets it out. “Okay, so you think Chie’s hot. I can feel ya on that, but I prefer a girl with a little more femininity… so I guess Yukiko’s more my type, but apparently…” He opens the thin book with the yukata, “...You also think she’s hot, too.”

Yu runs a hand through his hair, trying to ignore both the feeling in his stomach and his shaking leg. “That’s not…” He wants to deny it, but he knows Yosuke would just twist his words and make it sound ever worse…plus he’s not exactly wrong. “Also, Satonaka’s plenty feminine. Now get out of my chair, I wanna actually start building this thing before dinner.”

Yosuke laughs as he stands up and moves over to the couch, still flipping through the pages of Yu’s material. “Tell me that same thing after dinner. I swear, she’s a bottomless pit when it comes to meat, man. By the way, was there anything more to her calling you by your first name than what you said to them? The two hotties ain’t here for you to lie to right now.” He finishes with a grin.

Yu shrugs as he cuts through some more plastic to start assembling the mech’s limbs, ignoring that feeling again. “It’s really nothing. I’ve just gotten to know her better, so I thought she should act more familiar.” He rubs the back of his neck, then goes back to cutting. “I’ll offer Amagi the same once I get to know her better.”

Yosuke hums, an uncharacteristic thing for him to do, making Yu turn to him with a raised eyebrow. He locks eyes with Yu and smirks, “Tomboys and princesses, huh?”

_Fuck my life._

\------

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Yu says as he puts his umbrella in the stand by the entrance of Aiya. “Yosuke just kept running his mouth.” Two hours had gone by of Yosuke both complimenting the materials Yu had, and him just trying to get Yu to admit that he was interested in what he had denied.

Chie waves her hand dismissively as she takes a seat at the bar, him following suit. “I wasn’t waiting that long anyway, I hung out with Yukiko a bit longer than I thought we would, too.”

She looks to the two people behind the bar, the woman who caused them much embarrassment smiles at them before walking over. “Hello again, you two. Are you here on another ‘date’?” She puts air quotes over the ‘date,’ showing that she clearly remembers the last time they were here.

Yu coughs and Chie blushes while frantically shaking her head. “S-still not together.” Yu quietly says while rubbing the back of his neck, hoping that the heat on his face is not as noticeable as it feels.

The woman giggles, and hums. “Won’t be much longer, I bet.” She says with a lilt in her voice, making Chie put her head on the bar and whine. Yup, now he’s definitely blushing. “What can I get you two?”

Yu sighs and smirks, “We’d like to take the Rainy Day Challenge.” The woman’s eyes widen a bit, but she smiles and nods, walking away from the two. “She’s an interesting one.”

Chie sighs and nods, “Seriously, she’s worse than my mom when it comes to that stuff.”

Yu smirks, “I bet that’s just because your mom hasn’t met me, yet.” He thinks about nudging her with his elbow teasingly, but hesitates. _Stop it._

Chie fidgets and scratches her pink-tinged cheek, “...Idiot.” Yu turns and sees that she’s looking away from him, blushing with a small smile on her face. 

_Does she…_ He shakes his head, attempting to ignore his quickened heartbeat. _No, don’t do this shit._

A few minutes pass before the bowls are placed in front of them, and with the woman starting her timer, the two begin devouring the meat in front of them.

A minute passes, _No sign of the rice…_

...

Five minutes pass, _What the hell… how much meat is there?_

...

Ten minutes pass, _Is this what Satonaka meant by ‘the Meat Dimension?!’_

...

Four minutes pass, _Finally! Rice! I’m free!_

...

He takes his time, finishing the bowl with five minutes to spare. He smirks to himself.

A sharp pain goes through his head as he looks at the empty bowl in front of him, and for a second he swears that the bowl was still almost full, as if he failed the challenge.

He shakes his head and looks at Chie, who’s holding her stomach with a bowl that’s probably about 25% full of meat still. She murmurs with her eyes tightly shut, “...The Meat Dimension…”

He softly smiles as he looks at her. _She’s really…_ He puts the three thousand yen for the unfinished bowl on top of the bar and the woman comes over and takes it. “Oh, wow! You beat the challenge? It’s been awhile since someone actually beat it, Chie-chan’s normally the only person who comes close.”

Upon hearing her name, Chie awakens from her interdimensional journey, “Huh? What?” She looks over to Yu, who’s still smiling gently at her, but her stomach hurts too much to blush. She looks at the empty bowl in front of him, “Holy crap! You won?!”

Upon hearing his name, he snaps out of the trance that Chie put him in. _Stop it, dumbass._ He notices her looking at the empty bowl in amazement, and another sharp pain pierces his head, making him wince. When he looks at her again, he can swear that her face almost flashed with smugness, but it shifts back to amazement the second he sees it.

He ignores the wry smile the woman behind the counter is giving him and locks eyes with Chie, “Told you...”

He smirks his most confident smirk, “I’m full of surprises, Satonaka.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun one.
> 
> Also a bit of self indulgence by making Yu love building mech models, since I love building Gunpla.
> 
> Here's the question I mentioned: How would you guys like a Christmas one-shot for this fic in place of a chapter next week? It'd have all the tagged ships during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, taking place a year or two in the future. It'd pretty much just be all fluff, maybe a bit of foreshadowing since it'd take place in the future. Is that something you'd be interested in?
> 
> I'll ask the same question on my twitter (@BeezyPepto), and I'll post there to announce I'd be doing it.


	11. Tonight at Midnight: The Bloodcurdling Beefcake Emperor!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Investigation Team returns to their regularly scheduled programming, for better or worse...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for 1500 hits and 50+ kudos! This is insane, guys.
> 
> First of all, I'd like to wish everyone Happy New Year! Secondly, I hope you all had wonderful holidays. And thirdly, we're back to the main fic!
> 
> In case you missed the Christmas One-shot I did for this fic on Christmas Eve, you can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28292874  
> It includes the three tagged ships and some very light and fairly vague foreshadowing for the main fic. It was a lot of fun to write, and if you do read it, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Now onto the main story, enjoy!

**5/12 Thursday**

***Yosuke POV***

Yosuke stands up and walks to the side of Yu’s desk, lifting his arms over his head and stretching his back as he does. He lets out a sigh of relief, then flashes his winning smile. “It’s finally over, what a load off! I bet every student feels like this after exams are over!”

Yu shrugs and says something that he can’t hear since Chie decides to hiss at Yosuke, “Hey, quiet down!” _What?! I wasn’t even being that loud!_ She turns back to Yukiko, “So what did you write for number 7? The one about what ‘that’ referred to in the sentence?”

Yukiko taps her cheek with her index finger, recalling the question. “Hmm, I put… ‘her sorrowful expression’.”

Yu hums in agreeance. _Wait, he picked the same one as Yukiko? Shit… that means it has to be right…_

Chie groans, holding her head in her hand. “Crap... then I got it wrong. I put ‘the rice cakes on top of the table’.”

Yu and Yukiko both tilt their heads, turning to look at each other. “...Rice cakes? Was that what the story was about?” Yukiko asks with confusion in her tone.

Yu smirks and shrugs, “Could be.” He says quietly. _...Maybe I just won’t tell them that I put ‘the table.’_

Chie throws her arms in the air and folds them behind her head as she stretches, “Welp, I’m giving up on composition. I’m gonna bet it all on geography!” She turns to Yu with a hopeful smile on her face, “What did you put for the tallest mountain in the solar system?”

He smiles back at her, “I picked ‘Olympus Mons’.” _...That doesn’t bode well for me._

Chie’s eyes widen and her smile gives way to shock, “Ah seriously?! I chose the wrong one…” She says, conceding.

Yukiko smiles at Yu, “Oh, I put that one too.”

 _...And there’s the nail in the coffin._ Yosuke sighs, “...Then it’s probably right. I can’t wait to have our grades posted in the hall where everyone can see ‘em.” He says with a frown.

“Hey, did you hear? A TV station’s filming here in town!” The entire team snaps to attention as a pair of students start talking aloud. Yu and Yosuke look at each other to seem nonchalant, while still paying very close attention to the conversation. While Yukiko and Chie do the same, they can’t help but sneak glances at the conversing students.

The other student waves his hand dismissively, and Yosuke realizes that he’s also sneaking glances at them. “They’re probably just doing more stuff about that hanging corpse case.”

“Nah dude, they’re here about the highway nearby. They’re gonna be covering those biker gangs that hang out around there. A friend of mine goes to the biker meetings sometimes, I heard it from him.” He adds on the last part a little quickly, making the team quirk their eyebrows.

The other student doesn’t seem to catch the obvious lie, “Dude, what are you doing hanging out with a guy in a biker gang?” His friend is about to continue, but he shakes his head, “Well anyways, about tomorrow’s group blind date...” _...And that’s our cue to stop listening._

The Investigation team all lean a little closer to each other. Yukiko speaks up first, “...Biker gang?”

Chie nods, “Oh yeah, they raise a ruckus from time to time. I guess your place is too far away to hear ‘em.”

Yosuke hums in agreeance, “We live right by the road. The noise can drive you insane.”

Chie speaks up again, “I hear some guys at this school are part of it, too.”

“Yeah, I know there are some rumors about a first-year student who’s a total hellraiser.” He adds, “One of the guys working at Junes said the dude’s been a legend since middle school.” Yosuke brings a hand to his chin in thought, “Although… was he in a biker gang?” He says, mostly to himself.

Yukiko turns to Yosuke with stars in her eyes, “D-did you say he was a legend?” She says, excitement seeping from every word.

They all turn to her with quirked brows, “Uh, it’s not what you think Yukiko...” Chie says, unsurprised that that’s what her friend pulled away from that rumor.

The rest of the students begin to leave the class, and the team starts gathering their belongings. “Yo, Yu.” Yosuke calls, causing Yu to turn to him with a questioning expression. “Wanna hang out? Don’t really wanna head home right away.” He asks, hoping to kill some time with his friend.

Yu shakes his head, “Sorry, already have plans today.” He says softly, making both Chie and Yosuke tilt their heads. He nods towards Yukiko.

Who puts the rest of her belongings into her bag, snapping it shut. “Shall we, Narukami-kun?” _The two of them are hangin’ out now?_

Yosuke nudges Yu in the side with his elbow, a smirk plastered on his face. “You takin’ on the Amagi Challenge, too now?”

Yu’s face shifts from neutral to a frown, “No, Yosuke. She just asked me for help with something.”

Yosuke rolls his eyes, “Whatever man, have fun ‘helping her out’.” He dramatically puts air quotes when he speaks bitterly. _Wait… why aren’t I hyped for him?_

Yu doesn’t seem to notice and just shakes his head with a small smile on his face. He pats Yosuke on the back, “I’ll see you later, Yosuke.” He begins walking towards the door before turning back, Yukiko following behind him. “See you, Satonaka.”

Chie waves, “See ya, have fun you two!” She says, causing Yu to shake his head again and Yukiko to blush slightly, _And of course, he doesn’t notice it._

The two exit the class, leaving the other two standing side by side. Yosuke begins trying to understand where these weird feelings are coming from in the silence between them.

 _Am I jealous? Is that what this is? But why would I care if he’s hanging out with Yukiko? When Senpai was paying more attention to Yu when she’d only just met him, it made sense for me to be jealous._ At the thought of her, he grimaces. _Why am I letting that be one of my memories of her? Am I that shitty of a person? Maybe I sh-_

“Yosuke?” He’s pulled out of thoughts he probably shouldn’t be having by Chie with a scrutinizing expression.

He clears his throat awkwardly, “Y-yeah, what’s up?” His voice cracks and he sighs frustratedly.

Chie quirks an eyebrow at him, “I was just askin’ if you wanted to walk home together.”

Yosuke tilts his head, but nods when he finally registers what was asked. The two begin leaving the school, passing a few discarded love letters on the floor, Yosuke sighs upon seeing them, knowing exactly who left them there. “He gets a few every week…” He murmurs.

Chie hums in agreeance, but it doesn’t sound particularly engaged. “Yeah, despite him not saying much to anyone but us, he’s really popular with everybody.”

 _That’s true… is everyone really that horny?_ Yosuke shrugs as he pushes the entrance doors open, “His charm knows no bounds.” He turns back and smirks at Chie, “You should know.”

Chie turns bright red and punches him in the shoulder, making him yelp and hold his now dead arm. “W-what’s that supposed to mean?!”

Yosuke glares at her, “I was just joking, why would you hit me that hard?!” He stops as he comes to a realization, and he wants to put his hand up to his chin to add to this, but his arm is numb and he can’t lift it. “Unless I hit the nail right on the head.”

Chie scoffs, blush still very evident, possibly an even deeper red. “Sometimes I think you want me to hit you.”

 _I don’t, but Yu definitely does._ He smiles to himself after thinking of that, but that’d be breaking the bro code if he told her that. He decides to change the subject, “So, did you know they were gonna be hangin’ out today?”

Chie gives him the stink eye as she shrugs, “No, but it’s not my business, so why would they have told me?”

Yosuke winces as he starts regaining feeling in his left arm, “No need to be all defensive about it, I was just asking a question.”

Chie rolls her eyes, “And I wasn’t being defensive, just answering your question.” She says, sounding incredibly defensive.

 _Wait a second…_ Yosuke stops walking, causing Chie to do the same once she realizes that he isn’t walking alongside her. “Ooh, I get it.” He says in a confident tone.

Chie sighs and tilts her head with a tired expression, “Get what?”

Yosuke begins walking again, nodding thoughtfully. “Partner is a pretty great guy. He hasn’t even been here a month, but it’s hard to imagine what this place would be like without him.” He turns to her and gives her a thumbs up, “I got your back, Chie.”

Chie’s face contorts with confusion, “What are you even saying? Where did this come from?”

Yosuke ignores her questions, opting to smirk instead. “He’s a stubborn guy, getting him to change anything or admit anything blows. But he says a lot more with his silence than he realizes.”

Chie very obviously still doesn’t get what he’s getting at, “What does that even mean? Are you just talking for the sake of talking?”

Yosuke chuckles to himself as he reaches to pat Chie’s shoulder. After two pats she slaps his hand away, “You can thank me later.” He says with a wink.

Chie scoffs, shaking her head. “God, you’re annoying. Ya think maybe that’s why he hangs out with me more than you?” She says with a smug grin, proving that she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Yosuke laughs, “That’s definitely not why.” He says as though it’s incredibly obvious, making Chie lose that grin and tilt her head. He turns away from her, ignoring her questioning face. _He said he didn’t want me playing matchmaker anymore, so how ‘bout I stop playing?_ A devious smirk comes to his face, but it falls as he begins questioning why he doesn’t feel happy about this plan…

\------

**5/15 Sunday**

***Yu POV***

He wakes up at midnight to the sound of the TV coming on. _Oh shit, the Midnight Channel!_ He squints at the screen, making out what looks like another student, but this time he thinks it’s a male. _There goes the theory of all the victims being women, I guess._

His joints ache, and his stomach still feels off. But his fever is gone, so he’ll take whatever victories he can get. He stretches, then decides to reach for his phone. He sees that he’s gotten a few messages from Yukiko, all of them apologies for what she wrought on his health. He shudders at the memory, opting to just talk to her when he sees her.

As he’s about to put his phone down and attempt to get some more sleep, despite sleeping for the majority of the past two days, he gets a call from Yosuke. He picks it up, immediately regretting it as his friend’s volume is a tad high. “Dude! Did you see it?!”

Rubbing his ringing ear, he switches to the other one. “Lower your voice, man, it’s midnight.” He says tiredly, “But yeah, I saw it. So much for your theory, I guess.”

Yosuke sighs on the other side, “Yeah, that was definitely a guy. We should meet up tomorrow to talk about it.”

Yu hums, “Sure, but where? We can’t go to the roof of the school on a Sunday.”

He doesn’t hear anything for a second, just the crackling of air through the speaker. “How ‘bout Junes? We can meet up there, discuss, get some food and hang out as a team for a bit.”

 _Nothing suspicious about teens hanging out at a superstore, right? We’ll just have to keep our voices down about what we’re talking about tomorrow._ “Sure, sounds good. Talk to you, then.”

“Yup, glad to hear you’re better, man.” He hears Yosuke say as he hangs up, so he flips his phone shut and flops back onto the futon.

 _Another victim… I knew it was gonna happen, but still… Shit. If it’s the same deal as it was with Amagi, then he’s probably not in the TV yet. We should try and find out who he is, then keep him from getting kidnapped if possible._ He sighs, _I wouldn’t’ve minded a bit more time off from all this Midnight Channel business._

\------

“Alright, we will now hold a meeting on our investigation of the serial kidnapping-slash-murder case here in Inaba.” Yosuke says as they all take their seats at a table in Junes, picking a table that gets less foot traffic nearby and a good distance from the speakers that blare out the catchy music.

Yukiko glances around at the surroundings, then at the table. “Oh, then does that make this place our special headquarters?” She asks with a faint smile.

 _Junes? I don’t really think that’s a good-_ “Yes! Exactly! Nicely put, Yukiko.” His thoughts are interrupted by Yosuke’s utter satisfaction with Yukiko’s deduction.

 _...You’re joking, right?_ Yu turns to Chie with a pleading look, and she smiles gently at him, with an aura of excitement. “Special headquarters, huh? It’s got a nice ring to it.” She says as though she’s appraising the location.

He ignores the feeling he got from her smiling at him by shaking his head, “...I suppose there are worse places to meet.” He says quietly.

Yosuke smirks at him before shifting to a serious face as he looks at each of them, “Anyways, as for what was on last night…”

Yu nods, “Anyone have any idea who that was?” He asks, and there’s silence for a few seconds before Chie speaks up.

“I couldn’t really get a good view of the person’s face, but it was definitely a guy, wasn’t it?” She says as she puts her elbows on the table, her hands holding her head up.

Yu nods once again, “Yeah, I couldn’t tell much either, but it was definitely a male student. I’m pretty sure he was wearing our uniform, too.”

Chie and Yosuke nod, but Yukiko has a thoughtful expression on her face, along with a hand on her chin. “So that’s how I looked on TV…” Her expression deepens, before she looks to all of them again. “Wait a moment, didn’t all the victims have one thing in common? That they were females tied to the first incident?”

Yosuke grimaces, “That’s what we thought…” But his expression becomes determined once again, “But we still don’t know who we saw.”

Yukiko hums, “In my case, the image on the Midnight Channel changed once I was kidnapped, right?”

Yu nods, “Yeah, the picture became clear all of a sudden. And the program was… cheap looking, to say the least.”

Yosuke chuckles at that before voicing his thoughts, “Come to think of it, maybe Teddie was right… Maybe we were seeing the other Yukiko from that world.”

Yukiko speaks up again, “But the picture wasn’t clear last night, we couldn’t see who it was… Could that mean that he’s not inside the TV yet? If so, then…” She trails off.

Yu decides to finish for her, “He’s still safe for now. I think we should make it our priority to find out who he is, and maybe stop the kidnapping from ever occurring.”

Yosuke nods with a confident smile on his face, “Yeah… and if all goes well, we might catch the killer in the bargain.” His smile slowly falls, making eye contact with Yu. “But how would we even find out who he is in the first place? I think we need to wait a night, man.”

Chie dramatically clears her throat, with a very smug expression on her face. _She’s kind’ve adorab- Stop it._ Yu runs a hand through his hair as Chie begins speaking, “Well, that means if my deductions are correct… Though the image was hard to make out, and we can’t say for sure who it was, it was definitely a young male.”

Yu and Yosuke lock eyes and quirk an eyebrow at each other before Chie starts speaking again with a very determined face, “But if that’s the case, it goes entirely against our prior assumptions. Since we cannot identify the person at this time, we have no choice but to wait and see what happens!”

She’s nodding to herself as though she just came to a great realization as she finishes, and Yukiko seems to be shaking slightly with her lips curling upwards. Yu looks back to Yosuke, who looks at him, then back to Chie. “...That’s exactly what we just said.” Yosuke says in an incredulous tone.

Chie’s eyes widen as her cheeks flush a bit, “Shut up!” There’s a bang from beneath the table and Yosuke grunts in pain.

Yukiko can’t hold in her laughter after hearing Yosuke get kicked, and she enters one of her laughing fits. Yu can’t help but chuckle a bit as well, but his only lasts for a second or two, compared to Yukiko’s thirty second long fit.

Yosuke gives a pained smile, addressing no one in particular. “So this is how Yukiko really is, huh? Who’d have thought?”

Chie speaks up again, “By the way, about that guy we saw? I get the feeling I’ve seen him before… Pretty recently, too.”

Yu smirks, “That a brand new lead, detective?” Chie glares at him, but it seems halfhearted, as if she enjoyed the tease. _That’s a first…_

Yosuke snickers, but turns back to Chie. “You too? I’ve been thinking the same thing since last night.” He stretches his arms, “Well, let’s check the TV again tonight, and think about it more tomorrow.”

Yukiko finally composes herself, but cracks again when she makes eye contact with Chie, breaking into another laughing fit. Chie groans, “Ugh, when are you gonna stop that, you crazy hyena?!”

Yukiko laughs some more, wiping tears from her eyes. “That’s a good one, Chie!”

Yosuke turns to Yu, “So,” Ignoring Yukiko’s infectious laughter, “You doin’ anything today?”

Yu shakes his head, “Don’t have any plans, you got something in mind?”

Yosuke beams and nods, “Well, I remembered that we said we were gonna have a celebration for saving Yukiko after the three of us went on with our celebration… Buuut that turned into a date between you two and we still haven’t celebrated as a team.”

Yu rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat, feeling a slight heat on his face. While Chie turns crimson and slaps a hand on the table, “I-it wasn’t a date, alright?!”

He hears Yukiko sigh, and she sounds almost… relieved? Turning to her with a confused expression, she just has her usual smile while looking at Chie flail her hands around in opposition. He looks at Yosuke, who rolls his eyes when they make eye contact. _...Weird._

Yu clears his throat again, “Uh, sure. You guys wanna do that today? We said it had to be a nicer place than Aiya, but on such short notice… and that the case isn’t done yet…”

Yosuke smirks, “What better time than the present? Plus, you said it yourself that the case probably wasn’t over after we saved Yukiko, so that ain’t a good excuse, partner.”

Yu puts his arm on the table and holds his head in his hand, he lets out a sigh. “Since it’ll be a nicer place, I assume we’ll need nicer attire?”

Yosuke freezes before he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, “I’m sure I got a suit somewhere that still fits me… probably?” He shakes his head, “Don’t harp on the outfits yet, we don’t even know where we’re going yet. It just has to be a nicer place than Aiya, that isn’t too difficult to imagine.”

“Take that back.” Chie and Yu say simultaneously, albeit Yu said it much more lightheartedly, while Chie said it menacingly. They both quirk an eyebrow at the other, then giggle before turning back to the others, who are giving them strange looks.

Chie fumbles with her words for a second, but composes herself. “I um, don’t really have anything fancy? All the stuff I have is from when I was younger…”

Yukiko pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, “I probably have something you could wear, Chie. You could come to the inn while the boys get their outfits.”

Yu straightens his posture and acts disinterested at the prospect of seeing them dressed up, “No need for me, my old uniform was a suit, so I’m set.”

Yosuke smirks at him as he stands up, “Then you can come with me to help me pick somethin’ out.” Yu rolls his eyes, but nods. “Great, we’ll meet up at the train station, since Okina City’s our best bet for something nice.”

Chie still looks apprehensive, but Yukiko pulls her to her feet. “Sure thing, see you guys soon.” She says as she pulls Chie out of the food court.

Yosuke nudges Yu with his elbow, “So, you excited to see the ladies get dressed up for us?” 

_Yes._ “No.” He turns to Yosuke with a neutral expression, “I’m more interested in where we’ll be eating.” _Even though it feels like we could be doing something better with our time…_

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “No need to lie, bro. I know your tastes now, remember?” _Don’t fucking remind me…_ “Anyway, we’ll find something when we get there. Okina City’s a big place!” Yosuke crosses his arms and looks at Yu with a serious face, “But now for the really important question.”

After hearing the seriousness in his voice and seeing the severity in his face, Yu straightens up and nods, listening intently on what Yosuke has to ask.

“Who’re you more excited to see in a dress? Chie or Yukiko?” Yosuke asks with a deadly serious voice.

_…_

“...I hate you, Yosuke.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is obviously the set up for a certain first-year student and for the overdue (full) team celebration for saving Yukiko.
> 
> Next one is gonna have the 'fancy' dinner with the Investigation Team, as well as the beginning of their next step in the case.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you again next week!


	12. Is This a Filler Episode?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarmenti scurrae advenit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, 1800 hits and 60+ kudos! Thank you all so much!
> 
> Another solo POV chapter, oooo, fun stuff.
> 
> This chapter was a fun one to write, I hope you enjoy!

“So, whaddya think?” Yosuke asks as he steps out from a walk-in closet in his home.

After deciding that the team should finally celebrate saving Yukiko with the whole team present, sans Teddie, the four paired off to get more (possibly) fitting attire for the ‘nicer’ restaurant. Yu brought his old school uniform with him to Inaba, just in case something would require a formal outfit, so they went to the Dojima residence first so he could change and grab an umbrella.

Now, standing outside of a room that is definitely not Yosuke’s in the Hanamura household, Yu looks him up and down, appraising the choice of attire his friend has walked out in. _Oh man._

As it turns out, Yosuke doesn’t have any clothes for the occasion that fit him anymore, but he hadn’t lost hope since his dad definitely has some suits that he doesn’t wear anymore. _Oh man…_

So here he stands in a white dress shirt that’s missing a button near the bottom, a black blazer with sleeves that are just a tad too long, and beige slacks that dip over this oversized black dress shoes. All topped off with an absolutely hideous orange and red tie tied terribly around his neck. Yu thinks there’s supposed to be a design on it, but the clashing colors make it impossible to tell.

 _Oh man…_ After taking in Yosuke’s whole ensemble, he closes his eyes and bites his bottom lip, attempting to hold back the laughter that is definitely going to hurt his throat.

He can’t.

He hears Yosuke groan as his laughing begins, “Dude, this is all I got. It can’t be that bad… right?”

Yu attempts to catch his breath, coughing as the laughter subsides. “You… look like a mobster… man.”

Yosuke heaves a frustrated sigh, “Well, this is what I’m wearing, so we’ll have to live with it. No matter how terrible it may be.”

Yu puts a hand on his shoulder, “We both don’t look great, so don’t feel bad about it.” Yosuke rolls his eyes, so Yu pats him on the back. “I mean it. Look at me, I look like I’m dressed for a funeral.”

His old uniform really was just a suit, it even came with a matching grey tie and black pleather belt for the blazer and slacks. Combined with his black umbrella, he could pass for a funeral attendee with flying colors. “You’re not wrong…” Yosuke says with a small smile growing on his face.

Yu smirks, “I know I’m not. Now come on, we should head to the train station so we’re there before they are.” Yosuke quirks an eyebrow at him, “It’s rude to keep women waiting.”

It’s Yosuke’s turn to smirk now, “You sure that ain’t because you’re excited to see them all dressed up?” _It is, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to admit that._

“It sure is.” He says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes, turning around to begin the walk to their meeting point.

\------

It starts to drizzle as the two boys stand underneath one of the street lights near the train station, they unfurl their umbrellas as they make conversation about a ton of random subjects. _Though Yosuke has a propensity to bring the topic to girls._

As he tunes out a story Yosuke’s telling about some middle school beach trip, Yu has to admit that Inaba looks both incredibly beautiful and incredibly eerie when it’s raining at night. In the daytime it’s mostly just very peaceful, and even before the rain begins to fall you can see some virga in the distance growing gradually closer. But night is a completely different story, the street lights reflecting off the wet concrete give an almost ethereal feeling to the surroundings, as if you’re in a dream.

He’s snapped out of his admiration of the scenery by Yosuke bumping his umbrella into his, “I know it’s not the best story, but come on. You could at least pretend you’re listening.”

Yu rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, “Sorry, I haven’t really been getting the best sleep these past few days.” He says softly.

Yosuke nods, “Right, you said it was some stomach thing, right? How’d you get sick immediately after hanging out with Yukiko?”

Yu shudders at the memory, seeing Yosuke tilt his head in confusion out of the corner of his eye. “Well… it turns out that Amagi-” He’s saved from reliving his recent trauma by the sound of footsteps growing closer.

He’s expecting the other two celebrants, rather hoping for. He shakes his head to get that thought out of his mind as he turns to look where the footsteps are coming from.

“Again huh, Narukami?” A voice he’s heard before calls out from the darkness. It speaks bitterly, and with an air of nauseating familiarity towards him. But there’s something… else that he can’t quite describe about it.

“Pardon?” He asks, completely confused.

The figure finally steps within the white light of one of the street lamps, revealing a man standing under a yellow umbrella with unkempt black hair, likely in the twilight years of his twenties, maybe early thirties. He’s wearing a suit, much like the two teens, but he has a better reason, though his red tie is quite crooked…

The man known as Tohru Adachi, Dojima’s partner in his line of work, sighs. “Of course…” He says cryptically, further confusing Yu. His completely neutral expression shifts to a warm smile, “What’re you two going out all dressed up for, Narukami-kun?” He turns to Yosuke, “...And you’re the Junes kid, right? Didn’t we haul you two in for suspicious-”

Yosuke coughs, “We already cleared that up, remember?” He says hastily, before letting out a deep breath. “We’re celebrating finishing our exams, right, Yu?” He lies, Yu catching on that telling a detective that they're celebrating saving their friend from being kidnapped is probably a bad idea.

Yu nods, “Yeah, we’re just waiting for our friends to arrive.”

Adachi turns to him, the smile giving way to a scrutinizing look. “That’s different…” The smile returns to his face the instant he finishes, “That reminds me, you two know that the Amagi girl finally turned up, right?”

Both boys nod, but Yosuke speaks first. “Yeah, she’s in our class. We were terrified for her.” _Yosuke’s a damn good actor, honestly I should try and learn a thing or two. It looks like it’s effortless for him._

Adachi nods thoughtfully, bringing his free hand to his chin. “We still have no idea where she went when she was missing, though… Did she tell either of you anything?”

Yu strategically waits a few seconds before answering, “No, she said she didn’t remember anything. We didn’t press the matter, though.”

The detective hums, “Welp, I gotta go stand at a corner for a while. Hope you enjoy your post exam celebration!” _...What? Why did he feel the need to-_ “See ya, Narukami-kun, Hanamura-kun.” He waves his umbrella as he walks away.

“...Man, I think I was right about the police being useless for this.” Yosuke says, to which Yu hums in agreeance.

\------

**???/??? ???**

***??? ???***

_...artner…  
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...enou…  
...damn…  
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...stupid…  
...truth…  
...ju…  
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...gu…  
...Magat…  
...ima-s…  
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...sadis…  
...shi…  
...-kun…  
...again…  
...Iza…  
...bra…  
...oto…  
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...path…  
...run…  
...idol…  
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… again…  
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...you’ll…  
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...just…  
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...love…  
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_**You’ll just run again.** _

\------

“Yu!”

A sharp pain in his left shoulder snaps him to attention. He winces and turns to what he assumes caused the pain, Yosuke. “What was that for?” Yu asks, frustrated and in pain.

Yosuke recoils, in part due to fear of seeing Yu mad and another due to confusion. “What was what for? You’ve been zoned out for the past like… forty seconds!” Yosuke takes a deep breath, calming himself. “Thought you went catatonic or something…” _...What?_

Yu rubs his shoulder, now realizing that the pain is closer to his collarbone, so he readjusts his ministrations. He locks eyes with Yosuke, “I did?” When Yosuke nods, Yu shakes his head. “...Still no reason to hit me that hard.”

Yosuke’s confusion grows further, evident by his face. “Hit you? I just shook you a bit.” _The unbearable pain says otherwise…_ Yosuke must’ve been able to read the look on his face, because he frowns. “Dude, I didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?” Both boys let out a synchronised yelp at the sound of another arrival. Turning to see two familiar faces standing under their respective red and green umbrellas, shielding them from the light rain. _Holy shit…_

He’d thought Yukiko looked good in her yukata, and he’d be lying if he didn’t think she looked better now. In place of her red hairband is a black one, almost disguised on her head, as well as a small red string wrapped intricately into her hair. She’s wearing a black dress with a large grey ribbon around her neck, her collarbone and shoulders are revealed, the two black straps holding the dress up are visible as well. A small bit of fabric wraps around the back of the dress just above her elbows, offering a bit more warmth, he assumes, also aided by the fact that she’s wearing leggings to match the dress.

But Yukiko isn’t what’s flooring him, even though she’s not making matters any easier. It’s that he’d never thought he’d see Chie Satonaka in a dress, and judging by Yosuke’s wide eyes and hanging jaw, he bets he felt the same way.

She’s actually wearing the same dress as Yukiko, but without the extra fabric, ribbon and leggings. His eyes are drawn to her neck and wrist, in which she wears a green choker with a white diagonal stripe in place of the ribbon, as well as a green scrunchy on her wrist that’s definitely just there for style. _She really does have a thing for green..._ He also imagines that the dress is a tad too small, because why else would he be noticing how well it’s hugging her figure. He feels his face heat up as his eyes start to travel down to her toned legs, bringing back vivid memories of their training sessions. _Stop it._

He wills every cell in his body to maintain a stoic façade as he begins speaking, “You guys look amazing.”

Yosuke nods, “Y-yeah, what he said.” He clears his throat after his voice cracked.

Both girls look at eachother, “Um, what did he say?” Chie asks, with a slightly anxious tone. _Of course they couldn’t hear me… Maybe I should be thankful?_

Yosuke clears his throat once again, “He uh… He said you two look amazing.” He repeats with a smile, and it’s hard to tell since they’re under their umbrellas, but he thinks they’re blushing. A small smile comes across Yu’s face. _Changed my mind. Thanks, Yosuke._

“Th-thank you, Narukami-kun.” Yukiko says gently as she uses her free hand to play with a strand of hair.

“Y-yeah, th-thanks, Yu-kun.” Chie says shakily, punctuating with an awkward and quiet laugh. He’s having a hard time deciding which is a more pressing matter to deal with, the pain in his torso, the feeling in his stomach, or the third thing he’s embarrassed to think about.

Yosuke lets out a small sigh, “I agreed with him, you could thank me too, ya know.” He jokes halfheartedly, but Yu thinks he hears an underlying tone of… irritation?

Chie clears her throat, voice still somewhat shaky. “Y-you guys look good too.” To which Yukiko hums in agreeance, nodding while she pushes that strand of hair behind her ear.

Yosuke mumbles grumpily, “So first they ignore me, and now they’re just lying to my face…” Yu can’t help but snort at that, instantly regretting it when he receives a glare from him.

Yu feels like the only way any of these issues he’s having will subside is if he assists in getting the plans to move forward, so he pats Yosuke on the back. “Cheer up, we just got complimented.” Yosuke sighs as Yu steps past him, walking closer to the girls so they can hear him, Yosuke only a few steps behind. Yu flashes them a confident smirk, “Compared to you two? We look like clowns.” He finishes with a wink.

Now he can definitely see them blush, both turning a similar shade of red, further intensifying two of Yu’s issues. _Why did I think flirting would help in any way?_

Yosuke puts his free hand on Yu’s right shoulder, causing Yu to wince slightly from being shaken, but thankfully nobody catches it. “...One hell of a depressing clown you’d be.” He says as he eyes Yu’s uniform. Yu rolls his eyes, and Chie mumbles something under her breath. “What was that, Chie?” Yosuke asks with a grin.

Chie looks away from the group towards the train platform, still mumbling albeit loud enough to hear now. “I like his suit…” Her blush deepens a few shades, and Yu can feel his own face start to heat up.

Yukiko nods in agreement, her blush still present though not as deep as Chie’s. Yosuke coughs once, “Pretty bold there, Chie.” She lightly punches his shoulder at the tease. After Yu got his extra compliment, Yosuke seems like he wants in on the action. “So, what about my suit?” He asks as he moves a hand up and down his torso, drawing their attention to it.

Chie snorts, her face beginning to return to its normal color. “What **about** your suit?” She giggles as she emphasizes, pointing a finger at him.

Yosuke’s about to retort before Yukiko speaks up, “Oh! I couldn’t really get a good look before, but that really is a suit, huh?” She asks genuinely.

Yosuke fumbles with his words for a couple of seconds, before recollecting himself. “What does that even mean?! Of course it’s a suit!” Yu attempts to bite down a laugh by biting his bottom lip again, and Yosuke takes notice, lightly shoving him, making him wince again. “Why am I the one getting bagged on?! This was my idea in the first place, you know!”

Yu nods towards the station, “Speaking of, here’s our train.” Lights fill the platform as they all begin walking towards it, and the wheels screech as the train slowly makes its stop.

Closing their umbrellas, they all board the train to Okina city. Yu and Yosuke sit in the same set of seats together, with Yu sitting by the window and Yosuke in the aisle seat. Chie and Yukiko sit across from them, with Yukiko in the window seat and Chie in the aisle seat.

Yu stretches his back, taking notice that the pain has mostly subsided. _Where did that come from?_ He’s nudged in his side by Yosuke’s elbow, “They look pretty great, huh?” He asks with a smirk.

Yu speaks before he can stop himself, “Yeah, they do.” He looks over Yosuke’s shoulder to see them talking to one another, a warm smile comes across his face as he watches, falling when he realizes what he just said.

Yosuke’s smirk widens into a grin, “Oh? Was that honesty?” He closes his eyes and nods thoughtfully, grin still on his face. He opens his eyes and winks at Yu, “Feel free to thank me anytime, partner.”

Yu rolls his eyes, _But if I’m being honest with myself, I feel like Yosuke doesn’t get enough credit._ So he puts his hand on Yosuke’s shoulder, “Thank you, Yosuke.” Yosuke’s eyes widen at the compliment, but beams after registering it. Yu smirks, “Maybe I’ll return the favor by getting you a real suit.”

Yosuke groans, “We were having a nice moment, man…” Yosuke gets the weird glint in his eye that Yu feels like he’s seen before, but he can’t place it. “But man. Chie in a dress…-” He whistles just low enough so that they don’t hear him, “-...damn.”

A very unpleasant feeling makes an appearance in Yu’s gut as Yosuke gawks, so Yu shakes his head to try and ignore it as he always does. “Knock it off, they’re our friends.” He says with a bit of malice in his voice, though he doesn’t know why. _Why did I…?_

Yosuke turns back to him and scoffs, “After what I found in your room, is that really something you can say?” _...I don’t have a response to that._ Yosuke flicks him on the forehead, making him scowl. “Plus... they’re doing the same thing to you.” His eyes move to the side and he nods almost imperceptibly in their direction. “Look.”

He very carefully peers around Yosuke, unsure as to why he’s so curious to know if they’re looking at him. He manages to catch sight of both of them looking towards him and Yosuke with smiles, laughing in between words he can’t hear. Then he makes eye contact with the both of them, making them both immediately turn and look out the window on their side.

He leans his back against his seat once again, “Huh. So they are.”

Yosuke splutters, “C-could you have a more subdued reaction?! You’re getting checked out!” He argues.

“They were just looking over at us and laughing, without context it just seemed like they were making fun of our outfits. The most you got going for your point is that they looked away when we made eye contact.” Yu attempts to get his friend to see his point.

Yosuke shakes his head, “I wish…” He says cryptically, _Hmm?_ “But they weren’t looking at us.” He emphasizes by wiggling a finger between the both of them, stopping it as it points at Yu. “You should make a move at some point, dude.” When Yu doesn’t react at all, Yosuke sighs. “...Whatever man, how much longer till we get there?”

Yu’s had enough weird shit today, so he decides to press the matter. “Is there something wrong, Yosuke?” Yosuke turns to him with a cocked brow, confusion on his face. “You’ve been saying some weird stuff recently and then just acting like you didn’t say it.”

The confusion stays plastered on his face, he works his jaw in a circle a few times before looking back to Yu. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about.”

Yu’s own confusion grows, “You just did it a few seconds ago, when you said ‘I wish’. What did you mean by that?”

The gears in Yosuke’s head turn, and about fifteen seconds later, he responds. “I don’t know… I just said it, I guess.”

 _Well, I do that too. But the way he said it sounded like there were some emotions behind it, and not just the first thought that came to his head. ...Then again, I also haven’t been as honest as I should be with him, so I think I should just drop it for now._ “All right. Well, we should be there in like ten minutes. Gotta say, I’m excited for where we end up going.”

Yosuke’s smile returns, “Hell yeah, dude!” He exclaims loudly, luckily the four of them are the only passengers, so they could be as loud as they want and the only person they’d be annoying is the conductor.

Yukiko and Chie look over to both boys, and the former speaking up first. “I’m quite excited as well. It’s been awhile since I’ve had dinner outside of Inaba.”

Chie nods with a big toothy grin on her face, “Yeah, same here. I can’t wait to see what kind of expensive meat we can get…” She trails off, clearly slipping into the Meat Dimension. _Cute…_ Yu’s eyes go wide, and he runs a hand through his hair. _Stop it, jackass._

Yu hums, and chuckles softly, pulling Chie out of her interdimensional journey. “While I’m excited for where we’ll be going, I’m more excited that we’re all doing this together.” Chie ‘aww’s, while Yukiko and Yosuke both smile at him warmly.

Yosuke chuckles a bit, “Man, under all that cool and stoic exterior, you’re really just a big softy, huh?” He says with a bright smile.

“You’re right, Yosuke. We should just sit in silence until we get there.” Yu says in a completely neutral voice, turning to look out the window as he finishes. But he can’t help but feel a smile creep back onto his face as his friends chuckle behind him.

Looking out a dark window, feeling a parallel to when he first arrived here, he doesn’t mind the warmth that takes over his chest right now.

\------

“So…” Yu begins, taking in the scenery around them. “...Nice place.” He admires quietly.

He hears three separate groans from around him. Sitting at the opposite side of the table is the two girls, with Chie sitting across from him and Yukiko across from Yosuke.

He turns to Yosuke, “You ever bring a girl here?” He gives an inquiry to his friend.

Yosuke’s head shoots up from the table with a scowl on his face, “Enough with the deadpan schtick!” He yells as he slaps his hand on the table, apologizing to the staff immediately afterwards.

Okina City is home to many, many restaurants. Even without a reservation, one could easily find a seat at any place, no question. With this in mind, the Investigation Team hopped off the train and began their search in high spirits. About fifteen minutes into their search, the rain started to become a bit heavier, and much to Chie’s dismay, they thought they could hear thunder in the distance. The more they looked, the more places seemed to be closed for the day, due to ‘potential outages’. Hope started to dwindle after about forty-five minutes of walking around in the rain with no potential restaurants in sight, and that thunder was definitely getting closer. After another twenty minutes, they managed to find somewhere that was open. Admittedly, this would’ve been one of their last choices even if they had more than one. (which they didn’t) And that was for one very good reason.

In every possible way, Wild Duck Burger was absolutely not nicer than Aiya.

“I can’t believe I got all dressed up just to go to a stinkin’ fast food place.” Chie mutters grumpily into her hands.

Yu smirks, “On the upside, you’ll look great eating a burger.” He taps her foot with his own.

She jumps slightly at the contact, and he spots a faint bit of red peeking out from the spaces in between her fingers, “This couldn’t get worse...”

Yukiko snickers for a second, then bursts into a laughing fit. Chie and Yosuke both give her weird looks, “I-I’m sorry… This-this is just so-snrk-funny!”

Suddenly, there’s a loud boom of thunder, causing Chie to yelp and cover her ears. Yu reaches over and puts a hand on her arm, giving her a reassuring nod when they lock eyes, ignoring his shaking leg.

Yukiko’s laughter continues, possibly even harder. “An-and-and now it’s getting… worse!” She says in between her laughing, causing Chie to sigh.

Yu lets go of her arm and looks over to Yosuke, who’s looking between the both of them. He makes eye contact with Yosuke, and his friend winks at him, confusing him. _Whatever…_

\------

After eating their value meals in the fanciest way possible; with their hands, they all boarded the train back to Inaba. The thunderstorm continues as they finally reach the station platform, and Yu decides to just not talk since they wouldn’t be able to hear him anyways.

“We should probably all walk together, safer that way.” Yosuke says, raising his voice a bit so he can be heard. Everyone nods, “You live on the opposite side of town, so we should head to your place first, Yukiko.”

She nods and begins leading the way. After a few minutes of walking, there’s a large gust of wind, which not only causes the rain to get underneath the umbrellas, slightly drenching everyone. It also, with the thunder that accompanies the sudden gust, scares Chie enough to drop her umbrella and send it flying into an alleyway, out of sight. _What horrible luck._

“What amazing luck…” He hears Yosuke say. He probably intended to say it quieter because he looks slightly embarrassed when Yu turns to look at him with a raised brow.

Yu wastes no time grabbing Chie’s arm and pushing her under Yukiko’s umbrella, he takes off his jacket and offers it to her, seeing how she just got abandoned by her only source of protection. When she opens her mouth to protest, he just shakes his head. _You wouldn’t be able to hear my argument anyway._

He briefly spies Yosuke giving a thumbs up to one of the girls, but he can’t tell who, and it makes that unpleasant feeling he got back in Yukiko’s castle reemerge. When Yosuke turns back to him with a smirk, he immediately shifts to whistling, attempting to seem nonchalant.

When they finally reach Yukiko’s house, they take a few minutes of solace from the downpour underneath a small awning. “So-” A clap of thunder interrupts him as he begins speaking. _Of course._ He nods and heaves a frustrated sigh.

Yosuke clicks his tongue and ruffles his hair, “Well, on the upside, I think we can safely assume the Midnight Channel will be on tonight.” He sighs before he continues, “...Though, that’s not much of an upside, is it?”

Yukiko nods, “Well, you all should get home before it gets any worse.”

Chie groans, and now that Yu can take in the sight of her wearing his jacket, he averts his gaze. On the upside, he’s no longer shivering, thanks to how hot his face has become. “Alright, could I borrow your umbr-”

There’s a snapping noise and a rattling as Yukiko makes quick movements into and out of her house, “Sorry, Chie. My umbrella just broke.” She snaps her fingers, “Oh! I got it! Why don’t you share with one of the boys?” _She’s talking so fast. Did she just break her umbrella? I can’t keep up, even my thoughts are moving a mile a minute-_ She briskly walks over to Chie and whispers something to her, winking as she pulls away, leaving Chie a blushing, spluttering mess. “Good luck, Chie!” She says hushly as she shuts the door, probably aware that all three of them could hear her.

All three remaining teens just stare at the storm a few inches away from them, “Well, we should probably get going.” Yosuke says slowly, with a mischievous smirk on his face as he starts walking fairly fast. “You guys comin’?” He shouts back without turning around. _This guy…_

Yu unfurls his umbrella, shaking his head. “Shall we?” He asks as he turns to Chie, who’s still blushing like mad. All she manages is a nod as she tries to hide her face in the collar of his jacket. _It’s a few sizes too big, she looks really cu-_ Yu coughs.

Chie turns to him with concern, her blush fading slowly. “Are you getting cold? Do you want it back?” Yu just shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair, briefly spotting Chie giving him a scrutinizing look.

He tilts his head at her, asking his question without saying anything.

Chie snorts at him, making him smile slightly. She clears her throat before speaking, “You do that a lot.” She makes a show of running her hand through her hair, snorting again. “I think it might be a tick of yours.”

Yu quirks an eyebrow, _Do I really? Can’t say I’ve noticed._ He shrugs in response to her statement.

A clap of thunder rolls past, making Chie jump and bump into Yu rather forcefully. Her blush fully returns as she stammers out an apology, he just shakes his head and flashes her a reassuring smile. And the awkward, bashful smile he gets in response makes his stomach do a flip. _For fuck’s sake Yu…_

“So uhh…” They hear a third voice speak, causing both of them to turn to the source. “I’m gonna split, I’m not too far from here and I’m kinda done being the third wheel.” Yosuke says as he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, but there’s a familiar glint in his eye. _...That might be his tell._

Chie speaks up, “U-umm, no that’s okay Yosuke. We sh-should all stick togeth-” She’s interrupted by Yosuke yawning loudly.

“Welp, I’ll see you guys tomorrow! Be sure to watch the TV!” He says, showing no signs of the exhaustion his yawn was supposed to show, as he walks away.

The two remaining teens turn to each other, shrug simultaneously, and continue walking to Chie’s house. There’s another clap of thunder, causing her to yet again bump into Yu. He puts his arm around her shoulders to steady her and leans down to whisper in her ear, “You’re almost home, you got this.” He gives her a reassuring smile and removes himself from her.

The two don’t say much else for the walk, occasionally bumping into each other and murmuring awkward apologies. _Why am I being awkward?_ They finally reach her house, allowing for another moment of solace.

“We made it…” Chie says tiredly, letting out a sigh of relief. “Can’t believe I have to get another umbrella.” She says with an adorable pout. _Make up your mind, Yu._

Yu smirks, “I don’t mind sharing.” He says suggestively, his smirk growing into a grin when she again tries to hide her face in his jacket.

“...Idiot.” She says with a bashful smile, similar to the one she had on their second outing to Aiya. She begins taking off his jacket, but he doesn’t know if he can handle seeing her damp skin in a dress. He’s seen her sweat in her normal clothes before but this is way different.

He puts his hands on her shoulders to stop her from taking it off, making them lock eyes, a deep blush on her and a faint one on him. “...Keep it.” Her eyes widen the second he finishes speaking, and he can feel her breath hitch, so he takes his hands off her shoulder. “You can wash it and give it back to me tomorrow.” He says softly.

Chie freezes for a solid thirty seconds before nodding very slowly, “...Okay…”

The two of them stand there for a few minutes, not saying anything and just existing in the same space. _Kind’ve comforting, honestly._ Yu stretches his arms, feeling the now dull pain near his collarbone. “Alright, well. I think I should probably head home. See ya, Satonaka.”

He turns to leave but he feels something clutch at the sleeve of his dress shirt, he turns around to see Chie with a deep blush and a pout. He turns away when the feelings in his gut become unbearable, “I-is something wro-”

He’s interrupted by something soft and warm on his cheek, and it short circuits him. She pulls away, he turns to look at her, seeing her walk into her house. “...Thanks, Yu.” She says as she shuts the door behind her.

His hand unconsciously moves to where that sensation was, and he just holds it there. _Did-did she just… She kissed me…_ Despite the conflicting feelings he’s having, a small smile comes across his face. He thinks he can hear a muffled squeal from behind the shoji.

He finally pulls his hand away, revealing a bit of red on his fingertips. 

_Huh… She was wearing lipstick… Didn’t notice._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo boy, is this development?
> 
> Describing dresses is hard as hell, I do not envy my future self. (ooo foreshadowing) If you feel I didn't describe the dresses well enough, I got the idea from the thumbnail on the Special Version of I'll Face Myself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe0Br4JhfBc And if you're upset that I didn't give Chie the dress she had in that picture, don't worry, she'll have it later... (P.S. Yu's suit is just the one in the first ep of the anime.)  
> (P.S.S. Thanks to ReichVictor for the idea for colored accessories on all the characters!)
> 
> The idea of them going to the persona equivalent of McDonalds, a.k.a. Wild Duck Burger from P3 was something I saw on twitter, talking about two completely different ships (shumako and ryuann) going there for a double date since they let one of them (Ryuji) pick their destination, and I thought it was hilarious. So I thought I'd partially use it her, though rather than it being the first choice, it's the last one, and it's not a double date. Thank you Hayssa and Bondi.
> 
> Next chapter we'll be starting the Kanji arc, introducing a new POV as well! Take a guess who's it is, lmao.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and see you next time!


	13. Kanji Tatsumi: A Nature Documentary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanji notices he's being followed.
> 
> Yosuke makes Yu tell him the truth for a change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2000 hits! Thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> And if you're reading this now, enjoy the chapter!

**5/17 Tuesday**

***Kanji POV***

“Woah, shit!” A startled second-year shouts out when he and Kanji make eye contact in the boys bathroom on the first floor. Kanji’s combing his hair so he just glared at the guy through the mirror, next he knows, his cowardly senpai is running out the door. _Why the fuck was a second-year using the first-year bathroom anyway?_

His confusion and mild anger subsides as he remembers his reason for being in the bathroom, _‘I find you very intriguing, are you going to school tomorrow, Tatsumi-san?’_ His mind began racing a mile a minute, _Why would a guy say that to another guy? Unless…_ He shakes his head and resumes combing his dyed blond hair. _‘Excellent, I’ll meet you at the gates after school.’_

Exiting the bathroom, he begins making his way towards the entrance. Every student he passes moves out of his way the second he enters their peripheral, and if he wasn’t so anxious to meet with this boy who has an interest in him, he’d be pissed. He doesn’t even care to stop when he steps over some discarded love letters by some of the second-year lockers, even when the cards look pretty cute.

He pushes through the doors and walks to the gates, not seeing any sign of the boy, he looks up to the cloudy sky and waits. He hears some hushed voices from his left but decides not to pay them any mind, instead he uses all his remaining willpower to stay calm.

“I didn’t keep you waiting, I hope?” All willpower leaves him as he hears the voice that he hasn’t been able to get out of his head for all of today and last night. He looks down from the clouds to see the slender young man, whose name he hasn’t been told yet, staring up at him with pale blue-almost grey eyes.

Kanji clears his throat before speaking, struggling to maintain eye contact. “N-no, I… I just got here too.” The smaller boy nods and begins walking, gesturing for Kanji to follow. _The hell’s goin’ on here, man?_

There’s a short stretch of silence until the boy speaks again, “So, how have you been recently, Tatsumi-san?” He turns to look at Kanji after, awaiting an answer.

“Uh, I’ve been… good, I guess. Ho-how ‘bout you, man?” His voice cracks as he stammers out his response, cringing all the while.

His companion doesn’t seem to notice his awkwardness, or if he does, he says nothing. He hums, “I’ve been fine as well, however it’s just occurred to me that I never introduced myself.” The boy turns fully to face Kanji, stopping their walk, and holds out a small hand. “My name is Naoto Shirogane, it is a pleasure to properly meet you, Kanji Tatsumi.” _Oh shit, I gotta shake his hand?!_ As stealthily as he possibly can, he wipes his hand on his pants, hoping to make them less clammy, and firmly shakes Naoto’s hand.

Another short silence stretches. Kanji looks around the empty intersection they’ve stopped in. “So, what’d you wanna talk to me about?” He asks, avoiding eye contact.

Naoto sneezes adorably into his sleeve, _C-cute…_ “I wanted to know if you’ve noticed anything strange recently.”

Kanji blushes when he looks into his eyes seeing the determination burning in them. _Other than this? The hell’s going on with me lately…_ “U-uh… No, I don’t think so…”

Naoto takes a step closer, that seriousness growing in his eyes. “It’s okay, you can tell me. I’m-”

“I didn’t ask for anything!” A third voice shouts from a distance away. They both turn to look at the source, seeing a boy wearing the Yasogami High uniform with dyed brown hair. _Wait… is that the dude who ran out of the bathroom when I looked at him?_

They both take a few steps closer, still unseen by the other boy, and they spot another person. A girl wearing a bright green jacket with yellow stripes, and wearing a Yasogami High skirt. “Wait a sec, these were the guys who were creeping on me yesterday.” Kanji feels his anger start to bubble up as he grits his teeth.

“I believe I recognize them as well… Perhaps we should- Tatsumi-san?” He hears Naoto say after he’s already begun walking towards them.

“Think of this as punishment for acting like you and Yu-kun don’t talk.” The tomboy says to the other student, now that he’s closer, he can see that they’re both second-years.

“Did you even listen to what I said?!” The boy says exasperatedly, clearly upset, but not as upset as Kanji is as he looms ever closer. “Why would you ordering food even-”

“Hello there.” Kanji says menacingly as he takes a loud step towards them, finally announcing his presence to his stalkers. They both slowly turn to him, and he glares at the both of them when they finally make eye contact. “Whaddya think you’re doing?”

They both stand up with a quickness, the boy’s posture is entirely too straight and the girl looks like she’s about to break into a sprint. _These guys suck at stalking people…_ “We’re just passing by! Just your everyday couple!” If the guy’s body language wasn’t screaming how much of a lie that is, Kanji might’ve been convinced.

The girl’s reaction to that also gave it away, since she gags the second he finishes. “As if!” She shouts with a scowl.

The boy beams and starts talking through gritted teeth, “Play along, dumbass, this is working!” _If I wasn’t so pissed, I’d almost be impressed by his ventriloquism._

The girl bristles further, “You couldn’t come up with anything else?! God, you’re so-”

Kanji decides to move this forward, hoping to get back to the person he actually wants to be talking to. “Didn’t I see the both of you yesterday?” They both recoil, “You followin’ me or somethin’?”

The tomboy waves her hands back and forth, “Nonono, wearen’ttryingtofollowyouoranythingnordoIthinkyoumightbegayandifyouarethat’stotallycooltooImeanthat’sgreat!” She speaks absurdly fast, so he’s only able to understand a bit of what she said, but he really only zoned in on one word…

A slight heat comes up to his cheeks, “D-did you say ‘gay’?” His head is all frazzled so he can’t even think about what she might mean by that.

The boy drops his fake smile and scowls at the girl, “Chie, you moron! You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut!” He takes a step backwards, “Run for it!” He shouts as he starts bolting away.

“Wuh- Wait a second! Yosuke, don’t leave me standin’ here!” The girl now known as Chie shouts after the boy now known as Yosuke as she begins running too. Kanji turns around to see that Naoto is no longer there, further angering him. He turns back and starts to give chase.

“Hey get back here! I know what it looked like, but you’re wrong! I-I-I’m tellin’ ya, it’s not like that!” He shouts after them, just barely keeping pace with them. _They’re a lot faster than I thought they’d be._

“Sorry we brought trouble!” Yosuke shouts as they approach the shrine near his family’s textile shop.

“Yukiko I’m sorry!” Chie shouts as well, and the next thing he knows, he’s chasing four people. More specifically, the four people he scared off yesterday. He knows Chie and Yosuke now as the green tomboy and the headphone dude, he just heard Chie say the name ‘Yukiko’, so he assumes the girl in red is her, which leaves the silver-haired guy to be the ‘Yu-kun’ that was mentioned earlier before they started running.

“Wait dammit!” Kanji yells, and unsurprisingly, they don’t wait. “I said to wait up! You are dead! You are so fuckin’ dead, ya hear me?!” His threats seemingly do nothing as the four of them keep running, _How’re they all so fuckin’ fast?!_ They even seem to be talking while they’re running, “Stop fucking runnin’ from me! Eh?” His anger partially gives way to confusion as he’s passed by a scooter, but keeps pace in front of the people he’s chasing.

He sees the girl driving pull out two bowls from the back of the case on the scooter, _How…?_ His confusion is slowing him down, to the point that when they make a turn after the girl on the scooter drives off, he loses them. “...Shit.” Kanji kicks a rock, now noticing that he followed them all the way back to the floodplain.

Now, as he’s making his way home, still just as pissed as before, there’s a kid crying on the side of the riverbank. Kanji rolls his eyes and walks over to the kid, “Hey.” The kid keeps crying his heart out, “Yo! What happened?”

The boy finally looks up at Kanji, “I-I lost it… The bunny…” He chokes out, before resuming his wailing.

 _Wait, what?_ “You lost a whole bunny?” Kanji asks, completely baffled.

The kid shakes his head, “The bunny… on my friend’s cell phone strap… She’s gonna be so mad...” The crying resumes once again.

Kanji rolls his eyes again, “Shut up! Crying ain’t gonna bring back what you lost, kid.” When the kid surprisingly doesn’t stop crying, Kanji scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. He gets down on one knee to be at face level with the kid, “What’s it look like?” He smiles softly as he asks.

The boy stops wailing and wipes his eyes, looking at Kanji with confusion. “I can’t make an exact copy, but I can make somethin’ that looks pretty close.”

He sniffles, “Can you really?” He asks, hope starting to fill his eyes, happiness returning to his features.

Kanji nods and puts a hand on his shoulder, “I can, and when you give to her, ask her to forgive you and say that you’re sorry. I’ll even go with you to back you up.” Kanji smile widens as he pats the kid on the shoulder, “Now come on, if you wait outside the shop, I’ll have it back to you in no time.”

Kanji’s anger begins to fade as the kid begins describing the adorable pink bunny, making an almost childlike excitement boil up in his gut.

\------

 _That took a lot longer than I was expecting…_ Kanji looks around the shopping district as the kid happily trots away, bunny in hand, now seeing that the clouds are getting darker and the streetlights are turning on. _Probably gonna rain soon, I bet._

He steps inside, surprised to not see his mother around the front of the shop. “Ma?” He calls out, receiving no answer in response. _Must’ve gone out at some point while I was making that thing._ He walks into his room, closing the door behind him and letting out a deep breath.

 _What a shitty day… First, my plans with that dude-Naoto, was it?-Got ruined by those guys from yesterday followin’ me around. And why the fuck are they following me anyway? ...It’s not just cuz they think I’m gay, is it?_ His anger starts to return, _What a stupid fucking reason. If they’re gonna stalk somebody they should at least have a good god damn reason for doing it! A true reason, too! Not some shit they got from a misunderstanding!_ He takes a deep breath to calm himself, he doesn’t wanna be pissed for when his mom gets back.

He hears the rain start pittering against the window, _She better have brought an umbrella… I’ll give her hell if she let herself get caught in the rain._

The doorbell rings, and Kanji perks up. _She forget her keys or something?_

The doorbell rings again, and Kanji stands up and exits his room, walking to the side door where the doorbell is. “Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.”

The doorbell rings again, “Ease up, I said I’m coming! ...Geez.” He mutters under his breath after shouting.

\------

***Yosuke POV***

The phone rings twice before he hears a click, “...Hey, Yosuke.” Yu answers his call, his voice tinged with uncertainty and confusion.

“...Did you see it?” Yosuke asks, hoping he did so he won’t have to force himself to remember it.

There’s a brief pause, and Yosuke checks his phone to see if the call dropped. “...I did.”

 _Thank god…_ “So you saw-”

He’s interrupted, “I saw it all…” Yu speaks as though he also just wants to forget the sight that was burned into his eyes. “...You want a copy?” _...Or maybe he doesn’t. I forgot that he said he wished he taped Yukiko’s program, but I thought he was just joking… Is he really gonna record the Midnight Channel if there are more victims? ...And would I want copies if they’re cute girls?_

_...Maybe._

\------

**5/18 Wednesday**

“Given the pattern so far, Kanji’s already inside the TV…” Yosuke says, somewhat defeated that they weren’t able to prevent another kidnapping. They all stand around Yu’s desk talking after classes have ended, sunshine peeking through the windows.

“I wonder what the Midnight Channel really is…” Yukiko says with a frown, making all of them turn to her, though she doesn’t continue that sentence.

Yosuke hums, deep in thought while Chie decides to speak up. “At first, I thought it was one of those ‘paranormal’ things, but when I gave it a try… it was real. Turns out it’s actually connected to another world.”

Yu hums, “When you told us the rumor, I thought it was nonsense. But the back of my head still remembers when I first saw it…” He says as he rubs the back of his head, Yosuke chuckles slightly, remembering how neither him nor Chie believed Yu’s crazy story, only for it to be real.

But something clicks in Yosuke’s head as he remembers when Chie told them about the Midnight Channel for the first time, “If there’s a rumor going around, that means a bunch of people are watching it.”

Yukiko brings a hand to her chin in thought, “How did the rumor go? If you stare into a turned-off TV on a rainy night…”

“...It’ll turn on and show your supposed soulmate.” Yu finishes. _Thinking about it now, the rumor’s just as laughable as it was then._

Yosuke pipes up, “You wouldn’t even think to try it, unless someone urged you to. But if you do… it works, and not just once. If this rumor spreads and everyone starts watching the Midnight Channel…”

Chie frowns, “It could cause a huge panic…” The other three nod, though it does not go unnoticed by Yosuke that Yu wasn’t looking at Chie when he did. _Hmm?_

Yosuke decides to ask about that later, “If Teddie is right, the missing people themselves create the stuff we see. So it’s not random. It’s specifically related to who goes missing.”

Chie sighs, “Yukiko had a show too, but she doesn’t remember doing anything like that.”

Yu smirks, “The stud hunt is lost to time, huh?” He chuckles to himself.

Yukiko either didn’t hear him, or she actively ignored what he said. “Um, this may be a bit off subject, but… The culprit is probably watching the shows that come on, right?”

Chie huffs, “No doubt, he’s probably sitting back and enjoying-” Her face shifts to a scowl, “Ugh, I bet they **are** enjoying it! They’re probably laughing their heads off watching the ‘show’ that comes on after they throw somebody in the TV!”

Yosuke’s eyes widen in realization, “Ah, I get it. Yeah, it’s definitely possible.” He cringes, “Ugh, now whenever I think about the killer, I get this image of a total sicko!” He smirks, dropping his voice a few octaves, “‘I wanna see everything about you, Yuki-chan!’”

Chie makes some repulsed noises, before bringing a hand to her chin. “Wait, so if people were watching Yukiko’s show, do you think people were watching what happened to me too?!” Yu looks like he’s about to say something, again not looking at Chie, but before he does, he winces and grabs his head. Neither of the girls seem to notice, “Oh that’s it! That killer is dead meat! I’m gonna leave footprints all over his face!”

Yu seems somewhat confused, but he shakes his head and closes his eyes. He smirks with his eyes still closed, now resting his head on his hands. “I’m almost jealous of them.” Chie goes scarlet while Yukiko tilts her head. Yosuke sighs, _Is this guy a masochist?_

“Fetishes aside, we should head into the TV today and try to save him as fast as possible.” Yosuke declares, to which everyone nods. The girls begin heading out, but Yosuke has some questions for their leader, so he stays behind with him. “You alright man?” When Yu tilts his head, he continues. “You grabbed your head earlier.”

Yu rubs the back of his neck, “Yeah… Hey, have we…” He starts, before he shakes his head, “I think I didn’t get enough sleep last night.” He excuses as he starts standing up. _Bull…_

Yosuke decides not to press the matter and goes to the much more fun line of questioning, “Soooo, somethin’ happen between you and Chie?”

Yu freezes for a second before grabbing his belongings, “Don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

Yosuke smirks, _Caught that, partner._ “Well, you were kinda completely avoiding looking at her. And I feel like she blushed a bit more than usual when you made that ‘joke’.” He puts air quotes for emphasis, and prepares his trap card.

Yu rolls his eyes and sighs, “Shouldn’t we be focusing on Kanji right now?” He says exasperatedly. _Gotcha…_

Yosuke hums, stepping ahead of Yu as they begin making their way out of the class. “Guess what she was asking about when we were staking out Kanji isn’t important then…” He says with a teasing lilt in his voice.

“What did she ask?” Yu asks immediately after Yosuke finishes, taking the bait.

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “Nah, I think you’re right, partner. We should focus on Kanji right now.” Yosuke ignores the glare he feels boring into the back of his skull.

“Yo, Yu!” A third voice calls out as they walk into the hall, turning to see Kou Ichijou waving a hand at them, and Daisuke Nagase standing next to him. “Oh, what’s up to you too, Yosuke!” _Wait a sec, why does Yu know these guys?_

They walk over and Yu fist bumps the both of them, “Hey Kou, Daisuke. What’s up?”

Kou nudges Daisuke with an elbow, “We were wonderin’ if you wanted to head to Souzai Daigaku with us tonight? I got practice today but Kou said he was down to hang later, so I’m extending the invite to you as well.” Daisuke says. _Wait… did Yu join a team? He does seem kinda like the athletic type…_

Yu puts a hand to his chin, before removing it and nodding. “Sure, but mind if I bring a plus one?” Yu turns to Yosuke with an almost unnoticeable anger, “Yosuke and I are gonna be hanging out for a bit, and since we all know each other, it’d be cool if he came too, right?”

Daisuke smiles and nods, “Sure, why not. Had me thinkin’ you were about to invite a chick, Narukami.”

Kou quirks a brow, “Ya know… Ebihara has been lookin’ at him the past few practices he’s been to. Maybe you’ve got an admirer.” _So he joined the basketball team… And even Ai Ebihara’s got the hots for him? Geez…_

Yosuke scoffs, feeling a familiar feeling in his gut. “This guy’s got tons of admirers, you should’ve seen how many love letters fell out of his locker like a week after he transferred here. I think I counted at least fifteen.” Yosuke recalls the shock he felt, shaking his head.

Kou and Daisuke both look at Yu with wide eyes, before Daisuke speaks up, “Shit, Narukami… You must get tons… How do you manage going to practice with all that physical exertion?”

Yosuke scoffs again, “You’re under the misconception of thinking that he actually acknowledged the letters.”

The athletes turn to look at Yu in disbelief, to which he shrugs. “None of them know me. Plus, I’m not interested in that stuff.” _Ah, good to know it’s not just me he lies to about this._

Kou clears his throat, “Wow man, I’m excited to ask you about this stuff later.”

Yu sighs, “Right, well, Yosuke and I have something important to do, so if you’ll excuse us.”

Daisuke nods, “Yup, see you tonight guys.” Kou nods along with a smile.

Yosuke waves his hand as he begins walking, “See ya.” He turns to Yu as they start descending the stairs to the first floor, “So, why’d you invite me to that? I’m not on a team…”

Yu shrugs, “Just wanted to hang out with my best bud.” _...I don’t like the way he said that…_ Yu turns to him with a smirk, “Plus, we can exchange information.” Yosuke tilts his head, “I bet you’re wondering why I joined the basketball team, and I find myself interested with what Satonaka asked about.”

Yosuke chuckles a bit, happy Yu genuinely bit the bait. “I’m more interested to find out why **you’re** so interested.” Yu’s smirk falls as he rolls his eyes, but his lip is still curved slightly upwards.

The two share a laugh before exiting the school, meeting up with Yukiko and Chie again. The team together, they begin marching towards Junes, eager to begin another rescue.

\------

 _Welp. So much for that._ Yosuke sighs as he looks up to the now sunset filled sky. Unfortunately, Teddie can sense that someone is in the TV, but he can’t sense where they are since he doesn’t know Kanji enough. Because of this, the Investigation Team had to leave the TV and begin asking around town for info on him. And after hours of effort, no progress was made.

Chie and Yukiko are apparently having a sleepover at the Amagi Inn, so after meeting up to discuss how they all found out nothing, they left to go hang out. _I wish Yukiko didn’t like Yu too, that way I could ask her to help me out with setting them up. But of course I’m not that lucky…_

He feels a tap on his foot, looking to see that Yu gently kicked it with his own. “Come on, they’re waiting for us.”

Yosuke sighs, “Right, let’s go.” He spots Yu looking at him inquisitively, but he doesn’t pay it any mind as he continues walking up the shopping district.

“Yo, finally! The beef steaks were getting cold!” Kou calls out as soon as they’re in sight.

Yu immediately takes a bite as soon as they sit down on the opposite side of the two athletes, “Sorry, our business took a bit longer than expected.” He says quietly.

Daisuke takes a huge bite, “Fs’all ghud man.” He chews a bit and swallows, “It’s not like we picked a definitive time or anything, so it ain’t a big deal.”

The four eat in silence for a bit until a good portion of their steaks have been eaten, then Kou speaks up. “So, Yu.” Yu looks up at Kou, still chewing some food. “I think it’d be remiss of me not to ask, so… Do you really not acknowledge the attention you get?”

Yu swallows and puts down his utensils, “I acknowledge them, they’re a pretty big ego boost. But I don’t act upon any of it, I’m just not interested in romance.”

Daisuke takes a sip of water before talking, “But what if they’re just looking for a fling, like a one night stand kinda deal. Would you take that up?”

To his credit, Yu looks like he’s putting thought into his answer, but Yosuke feels like he knows what it’ll be. Yu hums, “Depends on the person, but probably not.”

Yosuke’s eyebrows raise in surprise, _Huh, wasn’t expecting to get more than just ‘probably not’. Maybe I can…_ Yosuke smirks, “So how about Ebihara, then?” Yu turns to him and tilts his head, “If Ebihara walked up to you after school and asked if you wanted to hook-up, what would you do?”

Kou leans in closer across the table, slight smile on his face as the conversation gets interesting, while Daisuke seems a tad uninterested. Yu shrugs, “Don’t think I’d do it, she’s not really my type.”

Kou’s smile widens, “How ‘bout Risette?” He asks somewhat excitedly. _Kou’s into guy talk, cool to know._

Yu quirks an eyebrow, “The idol?” He asks softly, and the three others nod. Yu smirks and shakes his head, “That seems a bit unrealistic, don’t you think?”

Daisuke shakes his head, “Your popularity is unrealistic, yet here we are. Answer the question, bro.”

Yu sighs, “Sure, why not.” He says unenthusiastically, _Time to take it up a notch…_

Yosuke smirks, “The man has a libido!” He says exaggeratedly, making Kou and Daisuke chuckle and Yu scoff with a smile on his face. “How about Yukiko?” Yosuke asks, smirk plastered on his face.

Yu coughs, “W-what?” His cheeks seem to have turned slightly redder, _Wait… Did I read him wrong? Does he like Yukiko and not Chie?_

Kou laughs a bit, “Looook, he’s blushing! I think we can guess his answer…”

Yu clears his throat and runs a hand through his hair, “I wouldn’t.” All of them turn to him with wide eyes, “She deserves better than that.”

They all gape at that, but Yosuke composes himself, preparing to fire his last shot. Daisuke speaks up first, “Woah dude, was that a confess-”

“What about Chie?” Yosuke interrupts, making eye contact with Yu. “Would you do-”

“W-what’s Chie gotta do with this?!” Kou butts in with a deep blush on his face, _W-wait a sec…_

Daisuke takes another sip of his water, “Maybe leave Chie outta this.” He jerks a thumb towards Kou, “This guy’s got a massive crush on her.” _That… might complicate things._ Yosuke turns to look at Yu, who has a completely neutral expression, almost… passive. _Unless…_

Yosuke turns to Kou, “Dude, is that true?”

Kou, blush still present, rubs the back of his head. “Well, shit. Yeah, since it’s out in the open now…” He turns to Yu, “I’m so jealous that you get to sit next to her, man. You both hang out with her, right? Well now that you know, maybe put in a good word for me.”

Yosuke coughs, “W-well, I don’t know about that. Maybe you should just ask her out?” He sees Yu’s eyes dart toward him for a split second, then back to Kou.

Kou’s blush deepens, “I-I don’t know… What do you think, Yu?”

Yu’s face doesn’t move, but he runs a hand through his hair. “...Sure, go for it.” He says stoically, and Yosuke gets taken aback. _No emotion at all… What even is this guy?_

Daisuke groans, “You’ve been hung up on this chick for like a year. Quit being a coward, just get it over with, man.”

Kou stands up, seemingly emboldened by Daisuke’s beratement. “Alright, I’ll ask her out if we win this upcoming game.” Kou looks at Yosuke, “Buuut, we’re kinda short on members for a game, so could you join just for this one?” _...This better be worth it._

“...Sure.” Yosuke says, his voice oozing with uncertainty and discontent.

\------

Yu and Yosuke watch the two athletes leave before beginning to walk themselves. “Gotta be honest,” Yosuke starts, “was not expecting you to tell him to ‘go for it’.”

Yu turns to him with that same neutral expression, “Why?”

Yosuke rolls his eyes, “Because I thought **you** were gonna ‘go for it’.”

Yu tilts his head, his expression not changing. “Again, why?”

Yosuke lightly shoves Yu’s shoulder, “Because I thought you liked Chie, man.”

His expression changes for a second, almost seeming surprised, but it goes back to that passive face as he speaks. “Sorry to disappoint.” Yosuke clicks his tongue as he finishes.

 _He’s so fucking stubborn, I’m actually getting pissed._ “Yeah, okay, no.” Yosuke says frustratedly, making Yu turn to him with a raise brow and that same _fucking_ neutral face. “Enough with the bullshit, man. I’m gonna ask you some real shit, and I don’t want you lying to me again.”

Yu’s brow furrows, and he looks like he wants to say something, but Yosuke’s having none of it. “What happened with you and Chie?”

Yu’s passive face drops as he glowers at Yosuke, “This is the ‘real shit’ you wanna talk about?”

Yosuke shakes his head, “Just answer the damn question.”

Yu stays silent for a few seconds before running a hand through his hair, “She kissed my cheek.”

Yosuke’s eyes widen, “W-what?” He stammers out, baffled by the honest answer he received.

Yu’s scowl stays, “I told her she could wash my jacket and bring it back to me, I turned to leave, she grabbed my sleeve, I got flustered and looked away once I saw her in my jacket up close, and she kissed my cheek.”

Yosuke’s been thrown for a loop, his thoughts can’t even form correctly. “B-but you don’t-”

“I do.” He’s interrupted by Yu, who’s still scowling but now no longer looking at him. “I do like her.” _Holy shit…_ His scowl turns almost sad, “...I’m only here for a year, Yosuke.” _What does that-_ “I can’t…”

Yosuke’s just trying to process all of this information he was just flooded with, but Yu talks again before he can. “Since that’s the case, why shouldn’t Kou go for it? He’s popular, athletic and above all else, he likes Satonaka apparently, he’s got no reason not to.” Yu looks down at his leg that seems to be shaking a bit, and puts his hand over it. “I still deny it, and I’ll deny it till I’m gone. The weird feelings I get when she smiles? It’s from the outward display of kindness when I’ve done next to nothing for her. The way my thoughts cease the second she starts laughing? It’s loud and it makes me lose my train of thought.”

Yosuke puts a hand up, “Alright, Yu, I get-”

“No, clearly you don’t.” Yu snaps, actually somewhat scaring Yosuke. “I won’t bring up the other stuff, but still. Yes, Yosuke. I do like her, but I’m not going to do a fucking thing about it.” He snarls.

Yu turns away from him, “So, please… Stop playing matchmaker, you’d really only be playing for one of the two people.” Yu turns back to him with a smirk that just feels...hurt. “Now, what was she asking about during your stakeout?”

Yosuke clears his throat, unable to have the same emotional control Yu does. “She-she uh… She asked if you were interested in Yukiko, and she got mad when I didn’t have an answer…”

Yu’s smirk stays the way it is as he starts walking again, making Yosuke feel worse.

“Guess you have your answer now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp* A confession?! But what does this mean for future interactions between Yu and Chie? Will Yosuke stop playing the matchmaker, or will he go against Yu's wishes and "play for one side"? Will the Investigation Team save Kanji from his own shadow? Find out next week!
> 
> That was my first and only attempt at having a TV-esque outro.
> 
> I originally wasn't planning to have this scene this early, (by this I mean it would've come a few chapters later than this) but the more I thought about it, it made a lot of sense for Yosuke to get pissed at Yu constantly dancing around the truth with him, especially with something so 'unserious'. But I hope this scene hypes you up for the actual confession between them, because I know it certainly hyped me up for it. (Even though we have a bit of a way to go...(not that long, I promise))
> 
> Next chapter, we'll be saving Kanji and having another small time-skip, as well as some fluff for the "Never gonna happen" pair.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and if you continue on reading this, see you next week!


	14. Oh, Wrong Hot Spring Episode...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Investigation Team rushes through the Steamy Bathhouse in one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hot damn, 2300+ hits and 70+ kudos?! Thank you all so much!

**5/18 Wednesday**

***Chie POV***

Accompanying the fog, that even the glasses given to them by Teddie can’t see through, is a sweltering heat. _Thank god we left our jackets and stuff at the entrance like Yu suggested. This would be like a hundred times worse in our full uniforms…_ She thinks to herself as the Investigation Team stands at the entrance to what looks like a bathhouse exclusively for men.

“...So you’re sure this is where Kanji Tatsumi is?” Yosuke asks Teddie with apprehension filling his voice.

Teddie nods, wriggling his nose. “I’m beary certain. My nose never lies!”

Yu rubs the scar on his neck, “So humid… and we’re not even inside yet.” He says quietly with a frown. _I feel like I watched something a while ago where a character did that too…_

Yosuke narrows his eyes at Yu, “...We’re about to go in **there** , and your biggest concern is the humidity?” Yu turns to him with a smirk, and Yosuke looks away when they make eye contact. “...Sorry.” _What’s that all about?_

By the questioning look on Yu’s face, she thinks he’s confused too. He runs a hand through his hair, _Hmm?_ “We’re ready then, yeah?” He asks as he walks to the sliding door, putting a hand on it and waiting for confirmation.

Chie nods, and Yukiko looks at the spa with a frown on her face. “Was… Was mine really like this too?”

Yu smirks, “I think you were just a tad less sexually charged.”

And just like that, Chie’s mood completely shifts. Her determination to save Kanji stays, but now her emotions of confusion, sadness, anger and fear all boil up too. A few days ago, she did exactly what she’s seen in movies and TV hundreds of times, she kissed the guy she likes on the cheek after a night out.

Sure, it wasn’t the best night out. It was storming to high hell and they went to Wild Duck Burger for dinner after they all got dressed up, but there were nice moments. Some that she even considered… romantic. Which is why she bolstered herself to do what she did. And in all honesty, she felt damn good doing it. It felt like she finally took charge, a big step in her growth. I mean, shit, she practically **confessed** to him by doing it.

And here he is, handsome and stoic as usual. Since then, he hasn’t been acting any different at all. At first, she thought that maybe he’s just one of those super oblivious guys. _He does kinda give off that vibe sometimes…_ But the more she thinks about it, how the hell could that have been interpreted as anything else?

Then the normal Chie thoughts started coming. _I’m such an idiot, why did I do that?! Maybe if I just tell him I got caught up in the moment, he’d understand and forget about it? But then that’s depending on him having felt the same thing I did! And why would he? I practically just smushed my lips onto his face!_

Then, of course, the sad and scared Chie thoughts started coming. _Was it really so bad that he has to act like nothing happened? He’s barely even talked to me outside of the team meeting. I really screwed up, why did I do that? He would’ve been way happier if Yukiko kissed him… he probably would’ve been happier if nobody kissed him. Should I just ask him about it? I don’t want to, but I think-_

“You coming?” She’s snapped out of her thoughts by Yu, looking at her with a small smile. He’s holding the sliding door open as Yosuke, Yukiko and Teddie all begin making their way in.

Chie blinks a few times, before shaking her head and walking toward him. “Yeah, sorry.” She says, pulling the collar of her shirt a bit due to the humidity.

Yu smirks at her with half-lidded eyes, “You know, if you take that off, I don’t think anyone’ll fault you for it.” He says in that quiet, confident, husky voice of his that sends shivers down her spine at the right moments.

This is not one of those moments. And despite how hot her face gets, the angry Chie thoughts come. _This. This is why I’m so confused. He just acts the same way he always does, even though I basically screamed at him that I like him. I mean, he’s only been here for a damn month and I kiss him. Is he stupid? Did I have to get a crush on such an idiot?_

Yu coughs, once again snapping her out of her thoughts. He’s rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish expression, and slight pink hue on his features. “That was too pervy, right? My bad.” Now Chie’s been thrown for a loop, _Did it actually affect him? I feel like he wouldn’t have apologized for that normally…_

Chie huffs and walks past him, feeling a small bit of spiteful happiness when he mutters under his breath, “...Shit.” 

\------

Apparently, Yu can dance.

The ambient music they hear in this spa is a bit of a bop, she has to admit. It feels a bit more upbeat than the music they heard in Yukiko’s Castle, but still assisting in keeping that foreboding atmosphere. So after climbing about five floors of this place and not having much difficulty fighting the shadows here, the team started to have some fun despite the seriousness of their goal.

Yosuke teased some of the shadows by running circles around them after he knocked them all down with a gust of wind with his persona. Yukiko broke out into a laughing fit when one of those fat cop shadows with a hole in their stomachs tried to stand up when it was dizzy and kept falling over. Hell, even Chie started taunting shadows by doing poses to bait them to charge at her, only to crush them with a few well placed kicks.

So when they ambushed a shadow and Yu just started to dance, and dance well for that matter, you could only imagine the reactions. Teddie cheers and calls him awesome, apparently even when his ‘Sensei’ is being a clown, he admires him greatly. Yosuke just stares in both utter amusement and utter befuddlement. Yukiko, of course, breaks into a laughing fit, but cheers in between while catching her breath. Chie has a similar reaction to Yosuke, but she starts laughing when he deftly dodges one of the creepy cupid shadow’s attacks, all while still dancing.

And even while dancing and dodging attacks, he weaves in small counterstrikes with his personas. He even manages to sing along to the song that’s playing while they’re fighting, or so she thinks, she can’t really hear him, but his lips are moving. Oh wait, he’s moving in a circle, maybe she’ll be able to hear him. “-from the looks of the berries.” _It’s quiet, but I don’t think he’s a bad singer either…_ She might be a tad biased, though.

Obliterating the shadow with a streak of lightning, Izanagi almost mimics the two-step that Yu began after the ambient music returns, before vanishing back into… wherever they go, she doesn’t know. “Damn, partner! Where’d you learn to move like that?” Yosuke asks with a wide smile and a quirked brow.

Yu stops moving, but his foot keeps tapping. “Dunno.” He says as he shrugs, rubbing his scar again. “But it’s kinda fun, you guys should try it.”

Chie scoffs, “Yeah, no. I’m good.” She waves her hand dismissively. _I’d really rather not embarrass myself._

Yukiko nods in agreeance, “Agreed, I learned how to dance when I was younger, but I can’t exactly say I’m ancy for another opportunity.”

Yu closes his eyes and shakes his head, a smirk playing on his lips. “What better opportunity than when we’re in here? Another world?” He opens his eyes and snaps his fingers dramatically, pointing to them. “What better time to dance like nobody’s watching, when literally nobody is watching?”

Teddie nods, beaming in amazement. “Wow, Sensei! That was so moving!” _What? No it wasn’t._

“What? No it wasn’t.” Yosuke echoes Chie’s thoughts, making her turn to look at him. “Dude, I don’t think anyone’s gonna-” Yosuke’s brow furrows and he tilts his head, “-What are you doing, Yu?”

She turns to look at Yu, who’s stabbed his katana into the wooden floor, keeping it upright. “It might’ve been me moving around too much, but it’s getting uncomfortably hot in here.” He says calmly as he starts unbuttoning his shir- _WOAH WAIT WHAT HOLD UP!!!_

She averts her eyes the second she starts seeing skin, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” She yells, feeling partly relieved to see Yukiko having the same reaction, blushing and facing the other direction, but also feeling something she’s a tad too familiar with.

She hears the katana be pulled out from the floor a few seconds later, along with him chuckling slightly. “I figure you all are gonna see me shirtless at some point, so I don’t think it’s a big deal.” _WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THAT?!_

Yosuke laughs, “What the hell’s with that explanation? You mean like we’re gonna go to the beach or something at some point?”

“Yeah, why? Did you all think I meant something else?” He says suggestively, making Chie feel all the ways she did as they were entering the bathhouse. “...What is with me today?” And now she feels the way she did before, since he once again is doubting his teasing.

She finally turns around after hearing him say that, seeing him wearing that same sheepish expression, though there is a small smile forming as Yosuke chuckles lightly. But that’s not what she notices first, her hormones and curiosity don’t really let her do that. His opened uniform reveals a surprisingly toned torso, but not entirely surprising as he was able to keep up with her for the duration of their training sessions. Minus the sparring, but maybe she just caught him off guard?

She’ll have to remember to challenge him again when she’s not completely distracted by his bare chest.

Yosuke sighs, “Alright, I think that’s enough of a show. We should probably get a move on, right?”

Teddie hums thoughtfully, “Is Yosuke jealous of Sensei?” He asks the two girls as the other two boys begin walking again.

_Woah, is Teddie like secretly super perceptive or something?_ Yukiko shakes her head, “I don’t think so. Why would he be?” She says as her blush fully fades.

Teddie takes a step forward, “Say, how do I ‘score’?” He asks out of the blue. _Was this his true intention?_

Both girls immediately take a step back, and speak simultaneously. “What?”

Teddie looks at them with ~almost~ innocent curiosity in his big eyes, “I asked before we saved you, Yuki-chan. But nobody answered me.”

Yukiko tilts her head and looks to Chie pleadingly, “W-well, since you asked them… Why don’t you answer him, Chie?” _No way! He’s probably gonna ask me out if I do that._

Chie clears her throat, eyes darting to the two boys who are seemingly unaware of the conversation happening behind them. “W-well um… Technically, you were the one who said it, Yukiko. So maybe you should answer him.”

Yukiko’s eyes harden for an instant, and Chie recognizes that her friend had the same thought she did. She opens her mouth to speak, “Yo! You guys comin’?” Yosuke yells as she’s about to begin.

“Yup!” Both girls say simultaneously, immediately walking past Teddie.

Teddie grumbles to himself, “I’ll just ask Sensei, he’ll answer me.”

\------

“Satonaka.” A calm voice in her ear snaps her out of her rage, as her vision returns to the normal color spectrum, rather than only red.

His reassuring nod and calming presence only makes her feel better for a few seconds, since he gets hit by two very powerful blows from Kanji’s shadow, sending him sliding across the wet floor.

She sees in her peripheral an enraged Yukiko attacking one of the two creepy buff shadows Kanji summoned, and surprisingly, she’s winning the physical fight. As well as Yosuke, taking out the other buff shadow with an incredible flurry of blows from both Jiraiya and him, and after dealing the finishing blow, Kanji poisons him.

“You see, that’s why I think men are better. Girls get so worked up over the smallest things, then make a huge deal out of them. They’ll belittle you and lie. If a man has-” Shadow Kanji’s tirade is interrupted by a large blast of fire from Ippon Datara, another one of Yu’s personas. _Where does he keep getting these?_

A deep green light envelops her as she stands up, and all of her limbs feel lighter. “I just upped your speed. Give him hell, Satonaka.” Yu says as he finishes casting Sukukaja with the aforementioned persona.

She manages to ignore how hot- how **cool** he looks as his shirt is open and he’s all bruised up, and charges towards Kanji’s Shadow. “Protect me, Tomoe!” She calls out, making the card appear as she’s running. She jumps and kicks it, shattering the card and summoning her persona, sliding as she lands and keeping her momentum towards the shadow.

Tomoe doesn’t seem to do anything, just following behind Chie, shadowing her, as Chie herself jumps again with all of her increased momentum and crashes into the shadow with a powerful kick. The shadow recoils and rears one of it’s gigantic male symbols and starts slamming it down towards her, but Tomoe parries the attack, delivering a devastating blow by driving her double bladed naginata into the shadow’s side.

Another burst of flame comes from the side, exploding on the shadow’s body. She imagines that must’ve been Yukiko since Yu doesn’t seem to have a persona that can send flames that large yet. The flames left enough smoke for Chie to attack a few more times before having to jump back when the shadow began to lash out.

“Yep, there’s no denying it.” The real Kanji says as he begins walking towards his shadow with clenched fists. “I can’t help it, I LOVE STUPID CUTE SHIT!” He shouts as he straight up punches his own shadow, sending it flying. _What the hell…? How strong is this guy?_

Apparently, that must’ve been due to some encouragement from Yu, since he has a warm smile on his face as he watches Kanji from a distance. Kanji turns back to look at him, “Look… It made me happy when you called what I made cute… You didn’t make fun of me for it.”

The shadow returns to its base form, and everyone gets ready for a round two, despite not being in the best shape. “He’s coming again?! This guy’s unbearable!” Teddie shouts as everyone gets ready to summon their personas. _He really needed to slip that pun in there, huh?_

“Please just accept me!” Shadow Kanji yells as he begins running towards everyone with open arms and exaggerated hip movements, but it stops as Kanji glares at it.

Kanji heaves an exhausted sigh, “I hate that this guy’s inside me, you have absolutely no idea how fuckin’ embarrassing it is.” Kanji starts walking toward himself, “It ain’t about men or women, I’m just scared shitless of being made fun of. I’m nothing but a big ol’ coward who spends most of his time pushing people away.” Kanji grabs his shadow’s shoulder angrily, “Look, I already knew you existed. You’re me and I’m you, that isn’t some major revelation! Fuckin’ moron.”

The shadow chuckles softly before glowing brightly and turning into, what Chie can only describe as a super buff skeleton holding a lightning bolt. _Wow…_ As all the others have done, it morphs into a card and floats down to Kanji, disappearing when it touches his hand. Turning to face all of them, Kanji smiles weakly before falling to his knees.

They all rush over, painfully aware of how he’s feeling after both experiencing it and, in Yu and Teddie’s case, dealing with three people who’ve been through this. “You okay, dude?” Yosuke asks, offering a hand to help him up.

To everyone’s surprise, Kanji stands up on his own and starts taking steps towards the entrance to this room. “I’m fine. Now how the fuck do we get out of here?”

_What is this guy made of?!_

\------

***Yu POV***

“I’ll walk him home.” Yu says to the group as he turns to face Kanji, who’s grimacing. “It’s probably not the best idea after going through that to be alone. You could pass out or something.” He says as he buttons up his shirt and puts on his uniform’s jacket. _It feels so nice to be cold for a change…_

Yosuke nods, “All right, take it easy, Kanji. The exhaustion really starts to set in now that we’re out of that place.” He informs with a wave as he begins sloppily walking away, still clearly not feeling well after being poisoned.

Yukiko smiles at Kanji, a bruise has formed just above her eyebrow. “See you soon, Kanji-kun.” She looks at Yu with the same smile, “See you tomorrow, Narukami-kun.”

Yu and Chie sigh at the same time, “I didn’t wanna remember that we have school tomorrow…” Chie says grumpily, with an adorable pout. _Stop it._ “Whatever, Yukiko can I come over? I think a soak in the hotspring would do us some good.” She suggests, and Yu looks down at her leg, red and bruised from the impact of her attacks while enraged.

He can’t see Yukiko’s hands since she has them behind her back, but she imagines she isn’t faring much better since she readily agrees. “Sure, I think we have some stuff to talk about anyways.”

Yu tilts his head and Chie recoils a bit with a flush face, though he can’t tell if it’s from embarrassment or if she took some hits to the face when he wasn’t looking. “R-right. See you Kanji-kun, Yu-kun.” She says as they both begin walking away, Chie with a limp that makes him frown.

“So you gonna keep staring or can we get going?” Kanji asks brusquely, making Yu turn to him with wide eyes.

Yu decides to not ask how long he was staring for, he’d rather not know. “Yeah, let’s go. Lean on me if you need to.” Kanji nods and they begin leaving Junes. They’re pretty much entirely silent as they make it outside of the store, _He’s not really one for small talk, I guess. But for how exhausted he must be, him walking with no assistance is really something._

They reach the exit of Junes and continue their walk into the shopping district, “So uhh…” Kanji starts, “...Sorry, I guess.”

Yu turns to him with a quirked brow, “For what?” He asks quietly.

Kanji points at Yu’s chest, where he got hit so hard he went flying. “For fuckin’ you up. That thing is a part of me, so I-”

Yu puts a hand up, “Don’t blame yourself for your shadow hurting us. Amagi did the same thing, so I’ll tell you what I told her when she kept apologizing to me.” Yu reaches over with the hand he put up, and places it on Kanji’s shoulder. “Don’t sweat this, we wouldn’t have gone in to save you if we weren’t prepared to get messed up.”

Kanji averts his gaze and sighs, “You’re something else, you know that, Senpai?”

Yu chuckles before letting go of his shoulder and beginning his walk again, entering The Pose™ “I know.” He says with a smirk and a wink.

The rest of the walk goes quietly, and when they reach Kanji’s house, Yu wishes him good luck and tells him to take his time recovering. _We’ll ask him about what he remembers when he’s feeling better._

“Yo!” He hears Kanji call out to him as he’s turned and started walking away, “Thanks, dude.” Yu smiles at him and nods, and Kanji nods back, closing the door to the textile shop.

A sharp pain goes through Yu’s head as he begins walking again, so he stops, and for a split second, he can’t see anything but pale yellow. As his vision comes back and the pain fades, he feels like he’s being watched. But when he looks around, he sees no one.

_...The hell was that?_

\------

**5/28 Saturday**

Ten days have passed and nobody’s heard a word from Kanji, but after visiting the textile shop a few times, Tatsumi-san keeps assuring them that Kanji is okay. Today was one of those times, and after visiting the shop Yu and Chie decided to train. With Yukiko teasing Chie by whispering something to her and Yosuke going strangely silent, _I’ll have to talk to him about that, I guess._ The two head off.

And after another sparring match, in which Yu was once again decimated, they decided to go to Souzai Daigaku to eat. Chie turns to him as they’re about to order, “You brought some of their steak skewers to training once, right? Isn’t the meat so tender and delicious?!” She asks excitedly.

Yu laughs softly, remembering how the meat isn’t really that tender and Yosuke was baffled at how she was able to rip through it so easily. “Yeah, they make good croquetes too.”

Chie brings a hand to her chin, “...It might not even be cow meat.” She laughs awkwardly after voicing her thoughts, “Just kidding… but it is kinda gross thinking about it…” As she trails off, a police officer walks up to the store and looks around. _Hmm?_ “The police are here… d-does that mean this place really is selling fake meat?”

Yu smirks, but before he can give a witty response, the officer looks at them. “Excuse me.” He begins.

Chie stiffens and stands up straight with a serious face, “Y-yes? I haven’t eaten any of the meat today, I swear!” Yu cringes. _Taciturn as always, Satonaka._

The officer looks at her with a questioning face, then just shakes his head. “Lately, there’s been several incidents of a group of teenagers bullying people around here.” When both teens present tilt their heads, the officer elaborates. “Extortion, if you will. Have you seen anyone suspicious?”

_I’m a bit surprised to hear that there’s muggers in a small town like this. Kind’ve angering to think about, honestly._ When they both shake their heads, the officer nods. “I see… You two be caref-” The officer locks eyes with Yu, “You’re Dojima’s nephew, right?”

Yu nods, “Yeah, why?” When the officer doesn’t respond, he says it again at a slightly louder volume.

The officer frowns slightly, “Didn’t we haul you and one of your friends-” He’s interrupted by Yu clearing his throat.

Yu waves his hand dismissively, “That was just a misunderstanding.” The officer nods slowly before walking away, and Yu sighs. “God, that was such a stupid reason to get pulled down to the station.” He mumbles.

Chie’s looking down at the ground with a slightly angry expression, “...Bullying.” She kicks a pebble down the street before huffing. “What cowards, ganging up on the weak like that!” She snarls.

Yu nods in agreeance, “My thoughts exactly, it’s pathetic.”

Chie huffs, “It’s so cruel and stupid!” She looks him in the eyes, and to say he was captivated by her determination would be selling it short. “We’ll grab ‘em and make ‘em apologize, right Leader?!” _She’s so intense… It’s like she’s fighting shadow’s in Yukiko’s Castle again._

Yu smirks, “Like I’ve said, if you’ve got the power to protect someone, use it. Of course we will.” He finishes by giving her a thumbs up.

Chie smiles brightly, “I knew you’d say that!” Her face goes serious as she looks up to the sky. She waves her arms dramatically, as if setting a scene. “Mowing down villains and saving the weak, a lone female fighter stands… To protect the town’s peace, she throws herself into the battlefield, unbeknownst to all!” She shouts, then beams when she looks back to him. “Oh yeah, that sounds cool.”

Yu smiles and nods, “Agreed. You got one part of that wrong though...” He says, and when she tilts her head, he continues. “...You won’t be alone.”

For a second, her face becomes unreadable, _Did I say something wro-_ but then she looks down at the ground and blushes, and it makes that lovely and horrible feeling come back to his gut. “...I guess I’d feel better if you helped… and it’d… make me kinda happy too.” She says with a bashful smile.

_When’s that basketball game again? The sooner it is, the better. Feeling like this… hurts._ Yu clears his throat, hoping to cool down his own face. “So, let’s grab some skewers and head home, what do-”

“S-stop it! Please, someone, help me!” A voice yells out from the alleyway by the store.

Both teens look at each other and nod before running into the alley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooo, cliff hanger ending. I wonder what could be going down in that alleyway?
> 
> Be sure to stay tuned and find out!


	15. Oops, Sat on the Remote

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We're all trapped in a maze of relationships."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2600+ hits and 80+ kudos?!  
> I don't even know what to say now, thank you!
> 
> I think this might be my favorite chapter so far, enjoy!

***None***

Rushing into the alley, Chie and Yu see three teenagers surrounding a fourth. A familiar fourth at that, Takeshi Kouno, ‘childhood friend’ of Chie and reluctant acquaintance of Yu. The other three however, seem to be a bit older than them, one of whom is holding Takeshi by his jacket’s collar up against a wall.

All of those involved turned towards the newcomers running towards them, “These friends of yours?” The one holding Takeshi asks. He’s wearing a brown jacket and jeans and smirking with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Who gives a shit? Let’s take their cash too while we’re at it.” The one wearing a grey beanie and orange hoodie says with an air of flippancy.

The third one, who’s been frisking Takeshi, pulls away from him after reaching into his last pocket. “This guy only had a thousand yen on him, what a fuckin’ joke.” He smiles into his blue scarf when Chie and Yu stop a short ways away from them, “Maybe they’ll have more.”

“Chi-Chie!” Takeshi shouts, thrashing around and finally ripping himself free from Brown Jacket and running behind Chie. He winces when Yu makes eye contact with him.

Grey Beanie chuckles, “You hiding behind a girl? How much of a fucking wimp are you?”

Chie ignores their taunting, and it seems like Takeshi is either too scared or too relieved to care. “Are you alright?” She asks with furrowed brows as she takes a step forwards, eyes never leaving the three robbers.

Yu’s eyes shift to Chie, concern starting to set in when he sees her fists clench. “Y-yeah, I’m fine…” Takeshi answers, and when he makes eye contact with one of the thieves he speaks again, voice shaking. “Y-you’ve always been good with stuff like this… They mugged me! You’re gonna get ‘em, right?!”

Yu looks at Takeshi with a questioning expression, “What are you-”

He’s interrupted by Chie stomping her foot towards the thieves, “Hey, cowards! Ganging up on one guy?! Who’re the real wimps?!”

Takeshi takes a step back, “T-Take care of them for me!” He yells, breaking into a full sprint the second he finishes. Yu clicks his tongue and glares at his back as he runs, then he turns to aim his glare at the thieves.

Chie turns back, shocked to see him running. “Wuh-Hey, Takeshi!” When he doesn’t stop running, she sighs. “...Sheesh.” She then turns back, nodding at Yu who’s standing rigidly. She then starts bouncing on her feet, getting prepared to fight.

When they notice her glare and strange fighting stance, Blue Scarf speaks up, “What’s with this bitch?”

Brown Jacket takes a step towards her, reaching his hand into his jacket pocket, which Yu takes notice of. “Y’think you’re all that, bitch? I ain’t afraid to hit a chick. Equal rights, equal lefts!” He says with a sickening smirk.

Chie smirks a dangerous smirk of her own, “Just try me!” She taunts as she cracks her knuckles, still bounding from one foot to the other. Grey Beanie just smirks, and Brown Jacket takes another step forward, hand still in his pocket, but Yu can see his fist clench.

Chie gets ready to deliver the first blow, but Yu puts his arm in front of her and steps in her path. “W-what are you doing?!” She asks, and if she’s being honest, the look in his eyes as he stepped in front of her kind’ve scared her, but a different emotion starts to bubble up instead.

“Back up.” Yu says menacingly, eyes darting between the three thieves and Brown Jacket’s hand.

Grey Beanie quirks an eyebrow, his smirk falling. “You say something, jackass?” He asks in a low voice.

Yu smirks, the same smirk when he awoke his persona, and Blue Scarf takes a step back. “I said: Back the fuck up.” His eyes briefly move to Chie, who’s scowling at… him?

Brown Jacket removes his hand from his pocket when Grey Beanie sighs, “What a pain in the ass…” The three turn to look at each other, “That pussy who ran might call the cops.”

“We should split, then.” Brown Jacket says, glaring at Yu when he finishes. The other two nod at each other and start walking, the one remaining spits on the ground in front of Yu and Chie, then he leaves as well.

“Hey! Hold on!” Chie shouts after them, Blue Scarf sticking up his middle finger behind him instead of turning around, and the other two don’t even give her that.

Once he’s confident they’ve left, Yu closes his eyes and heaves a deep sigh of relief. “Fucking Takeshi, man…” He says exasperatedly. He opens his eyes and turns to his companion, who’s still standing with her fists clenched, staring where they walked away to. “...Satonaka?” He asks, concern filling his tone.

She turns around to face him, scowling. “What the hell was that?” She asks, and if her face isn’t telling him how pissed she is, her voice certainly is.

He’s confused by both what she’s angry about, and what she means. “We scared them off?” He smirks, hoping a joke will help her mood. “You were there, you should kn-”

“‘ **We** ’?!” Chie shouts over him, interrupting him. She takes a step towards him, “‘ **We** ’ didn’t do anything!” She spits, each word dripping with venom.

Yu tilts his head, “What are you ta-” He starts.

She takes another step towards him, interrupting him again. “They ran the second you stepped in!” Another step, “Why did you do that?! I could’ve taken ‘em!” She snarls.

Yu takes a step back, bumping into the wall behind him, and she takes another step forward. “I-I know that. Probably better than anyone, but-”

“‘But’ nothing!” She interrupts again, not having any of it. “You didn’t need to do anything! I could’ve handled it!”

Yu shakes his head, “That guy in the brown jacket looked like he had a knife, Satonaka.” She turns away from him as she scoffs, “I wasn’t about to let you get hurt, better me than you.” He sees her just shake her head, “Satonaka, I get why you’re upset about this, but I’m not gonna apologize for intervening.”

She huffs, still facing away from him. Her anger about them running away starts to fade, and the other reason begins to take over...

He gets it, it was pure sexism that they turned tail when he stepped in, and he had no doubts that Chie could’ve taken them. But he didn’t want her getting hurt, and it’s confusing him as to why she’s not understanding that.

So he decides to ask her, “I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this. Sure, it sucks, but it’s a much better alternative than you getting stabbed.” She doesn’t react, so Yu puts his hand on her shoulder, “Sat-”

She slaps his hand away, making his eyes go wide. “That’s-!” She tightly shuts her eyes, and clenches her shaking fists. She grunts in frustration, then turns back to him with a scowl, shoving him into the wall. “That’s not- ...That’s not why I’m so pissed, you dumbass!”

Yu rubs the back of his head, trying to ease the pain she just inflicted on him. “Then... why?” He asks, concerned and confused.

Chie looks down at the ground, shutting her eyes again. This isn’t how she wanted to have this conversation, but she’s just so frustrated. She steels herself, opening her hazel eyes and glaring into his grey eyes. “You!”

Yu’s confusion skyrockets, he’s the problem? But she just said she’s not upset about him stepping in, so what does she mean? “W-What?” He softly stammers out, noticing that her face is red with what he assumes is rage. He rubs his aching head, “I didn’t do anythi-”

“That’s the problem!” Chie shouts, he winces, dropping his hand and tilting his head. “You haven’t done anything!” He’s about to speak again when she grabs fistfuls of his jacket, “I…” She squeezes tightly before letting go with force, “...I kissed you! And you haven’t done anything! You act like nothing happened! It’s been almost two weeks and you haven’t...” She looks down at the ground again, her voice shaky and small. “...Was it really that bad?”

Alarms blare in Yu’s head, every bone in his body is telling him to just stay quiet. His head throbs, “Satonaka…” He swallows hard, and when she looks up into his eyes, hers slightly misty, his breath catches and he reaches up and rubs his head.

“Yu…” She sees his eyes widen when she drops the honorific, then she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, there’s no way he doesn’t know by now, so it’s now or never. “Yu, I… I-” She opens her eyes, wanting to see his face when she tells him how she feels... 

...Only to see him grasping at his head with the most pained expression she’s ever seen on him. “Yu?!” His eyes look everywhere and nowhere, never staying still. His hand twitches, grasping harder at his head. “Yu, what’s wrong?!” She shouts, panicking.

He’s muttering things under his breath, but she can’t make out any of it. His breathing becomes heavy and ragged, and she starts to panic more. She grabs his shoulders to try and get his attention, but his eyes remain unfocused. “Yu! I nee-” 

Then he collapses. “ **YU!** ”

\------

“So he just… fainted?” Yukiko asks as she takes a seat at the Dojima kitchen table, taking a sip of the coffee Nanako made for them when they arrived.

After he passed out, Chie didn’t know what to do, so she called Yosuke. He suggested that she just wait where she was and that he’d be there in five minutes to help her bring Yu back to Dojima’s house, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s only been thirty minutes since then, but he hasn’t woken up yet. Yosuke said that if he doesn’t wake up in an hour, they should take him to the hospital. Yukiko arrived a few minutes ago, so here they sit, waiting.

Chie nods, holding her cup with both hands. “Well, stuff happened before that, but yeah. He was fine just before that, though…”

Footsteps come trotting down the stairs, “Then, what was that ‘stuff’?” Yosuke asks as he reaches the ground floor, still in his Junes apron. “Somethin’ happen to make him faint?”

Before Chie can think of an answer, Nanako fidgets in her seat, “So, Big Bro’s not up yet?” Yosuke gives her a sad smile and shakes his head, “...He-he’s not gonna... die… right?” She asks, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.

All of them turn to her with wide eyes, “No, of course not!” Yukiko reassures her, putting a gentle hand on her forearm. “I’m sure he’ll be up any minute now.”

Chie nods, “Y-yeah! Why don’t we all wait upstairs? That way we can all be there when he wakes up!” She turns to Yosuke, “He doesn’t have anything up there that he wouldn’t want us or Nanako-chan to see, right?”

Yosuke smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Nah, partner’s way too good at hiding his stuff. I couldn’t even find it when I tried just now-” He remembers he’s talking to three girls, one of them essentially being Yu’s sister, and one of them is Yu’s crush. “...Nevermind. It’s good up there, c’mon.”

They all make their way upstairs, Nanako and Chie sit on the couch across from the TV, Yukiko sits at Yu’s desk, and Yosuke decides to stand. Yu is currently in his futon, breathing softly.

“So…” Yosuke starts, locking eyes with Chie. “...What happened exactly?” He asks as he leans against the dresser where the TV is, accidentally knocking over some books, righting them as he waits for her to answer.

Chie has a debate with herself, she has no problem talking about the ruffians, but she’s fairly confident that wasn’t what made him faint. It’s possible that shoving him into the wall caused it, but she didn’t push him that hard, did she? Maybe Kanji’s Shadow hit him a lot harder than they realized and he’s been concussed since then? No, that’s ridiculous…

She should just start telling them about the robbers, but that’s not the whole story. While Yukiko knows that she likes Yu, given the teasing and multitude of conversations they’ve had; which may or may not have also led Chie to believe that Yukiko might like him too. She also hasn’t told her that she kissed him that night, and she sure as hell doesn’t want them to think that that’s the reason he fainted.

So is she just supposed to leave out an entire segment of what took place? Because she also doesn’t want to reveal all of that to Yosuke and Nanako. While Yosuke is definitely taking this seriously, she feels like, if she tells them all of what happened, it may just become a group teasing of the both of them, joking that Yu fainted from the memory of getting kissed, or possibly being kissed again. Probably not the best idea revealing that she likes Yu, either. She’s stalling too much, she knows it, she’s even repeating her thoughts, so she just decides to start.

She clears her throat, “W-well, after training, we went to Souzai Daigaku for some food, and a police officer came over to us and asked if we’d seen anything suspicious.” She glances around at the three conscious people, Yosuke and Yukiko nod at her to continue, and Nanako waits with worry and anticipation. “He told us about a group of teens who were bullying people, and as he left and we were about to get our food, we heard something from behind the building.”

Nanako gasps, “Did you guys get in a fight?” She grabs onto Chie’s sleeve as she asks.

Before Chie can answer, Yukiko speaks up. “I don’t think so, Nanako-chan. They don’t look hurt, do they?” She then brings a hand to her chin, furrowing her brows in thought. “Though, maybe that’s because they won handedly?”

“That’s not what happened!” Chie shouts, “That wouldn’t even make sense-”

“Then, go on.” Yosuke interrupts with a serious voice, desperately wanting to know what happened. He cares a lot more about all of these guys than he lets on, so if someone caused this… He has to know.

Chie is slightly taken aback by his tone, but nods nonetheless. “We ran back there as fast as we could, and we saw three guys ganging up on... one other guy.” She isn’t really sure why she decided not to talk about Takeshi, but she’s just gonna go with it. “When they saw us, the other guy managed to get away, and he ran off and left us to deal with them.”

Yukiko quirks a brow, “He ran away just as his help arrived? Why didn’t he stay and help?” She thinks that bit is odd, why did a stranger put his trust in two other strangers to deal with a problem that was his to begin with? Seeing Chie’s hands tense, Yukiko knows that she was definitely not happy about him just running off. 

Chie shrugs, getting annoyed at the memory of him just running off. “I dunno. Anyways, things started to kick off, I was getting ready to fight, they were getting ready to fight, when all of a sudden, Yu-kun steps in front of me and holds me back.” This is where things start getting hard for her to explain; how is she gonna do this?

Nobody says anything for a few seconds, the only sound being heard is Yu’s steady breathing. He snores softly. Huh. Who knew?

Chie clears her throat again, getting his sleeping face out of her vision. “Then they backed off. The second he stepped in, they just… ran away.” She takes a deep breath, stalling for just a bit more time to figure out how she’s going to continue. “Yu-kun thought that one of them had a knife, that’s why he said he stepped in.”

“The way you phrased that makes me think you have a different idea as to why he stepped in.” Yosuke chimes in, remembering Chie’s shadow. He waves his hand dismissively when he sees their heads tilt with confused expressions, “Whatever. Go on.”

“R-right...” She shakes off her confusion and clears her throat once more, “S-so I got mad, a-and I kinda took it out on… him.”

All of their eyes widen, “D-did you…” Yosuke starts, but doesn’t finish, hoping that she isn’t about to say that she knocked him out.

She waves her hands frantically, “N-no! I just… yelled at him.” She frowns as she remembers her words, “It was just…”

“They ran away because Big Bro’s scary, and didn’t because Chie’s cute?” Nanako asks, genuinely believing that that’s the reason.

“That’s definitely why they ran off. Partner can be pretty scary when he’s pissed…” Yosuke says, glad that Nanako nods in agreeance. He’d rather not have to explain the concept sexism to a six year-old. “But that still doesn’t answer the main question…” He says as he looks over to Yu, “...Why’d he faint, Chie?”

Chie wishes she had an answer, and she’s glad that no one’s asking for details about her yelling at him. “I… honestly don’t know. After our argument ended…” She lies through her teeth, “...He grabbed his head, a-and just… mumbled until he passed out.”

Yosuke hums, making everyone turn to him. “That happened before. He didn’t pass out, but he did just… grab his head and zone out for a bit.” Yosuke nods to himself, “It was when we went out to Okina City. Me and him got to the train station first, had some small talk with Adachi-san, then Yu just… zoned out. For like forty straight seconds. He had no idea it happened either, he thought I punched him in the shoulder when he came to, too.”

“But you didn’t, right?” Yukiko asks.

Yosuke turns to her with narrowed eyes, “Wha-No, of course not!” His eyes drift over to Yu, who seems to be sweating a bit. “Y’think…” His eyes move over to Nanako, remembering that she doesn’t and shouldn’t know anything about the investigation, and he stops talking.

Yukiko hums, “Maybe he just… got overwhelmed from the situation?” She suggests, making all of them quirk a brow at her. “He thought one of them had a knife, so he stepped in to protect you. Very stressful, I’d imagine. Then you take your frustrations out on him verbally-”

Yosuke chuckles slightly, “You think that Yu Narukami; of all people, would get so overwhelmed by… anything, really, that he’d pass out?”

Yukiko chuckles a bit as well, before frowning again. “I guess not, but still…”

**“GASP”**

All of them jump at the loud intake of breath, seeing that Yu is now sitting up. Eyes wide, damp with a cold sweat and breathing heavily. A few seconds pass, and he manages to catch his breath. 

Yu takes a look around the room, seeing his friends and Nanako all looking at him with wide eyes and worry. He shakes his head, “...I don’t recall having a sleepover.” He looks down, seeing that he’s wearing his pajamas, a white long sleeve shirt and black sweatpants. “Which one of you changed my clothes?”

Nanako rushes over and hugs him, “You’re okay!”

Yu smiles as he pats her head, “Of course I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?” He says, very aware of why she’d think he wasn’t okay.

Yosuke smirks, “How’d ya sleep?” He asks, feeling very relieved that he doesn’t have to take Yu to the hospital.

Yu’s eyes lock with Chie’s for an instant, then he looks back to Yosuke. “Poorly, if I’m being honest.” He says with a smirk.

“What happened, Narukami-kun?” Yukiko asks, also very relieved that he’s woken up. “Chie told us her side, but we don’t know yours.”

He looks at Chie again, hoping to get an indication of what she told them, because he’d be pretty damn surprised if she told them what she was yelling at him for. She gives him none, so he decides to wing it. “Well, after getting yelled at and shoved into a wall, it just…”

Nanako pulls away from him, looking up at his face. “...Shoved into a wall?”

Chie laughs nervously, scratching her cheek. All of them turn to her, Yu with an apologetic expression and everyone else with questioning ones. “I uhh… May have shoved him when I was yelling at him?”

Yu sees Yosuke tense up, “That wasn’t what did it.” He says, stopping Yosuke from saying whatever he was about to. “I think it was just… accumulated stress?” He says with uncertainty, hoping they buy it.

“Stress from what?” All four others say simultaneously, which makes Nanako laugh. “Jinx!” She says with a bright smile.

Yu smiles at Nanako, “Would you mind getting me some coffee, Nanako? I see you guys all have some, and it’s making me thirsty.” She gasps, and nods, running out of the room. He waits until he hears her start going down the stairs to continue, “From all the personas bouncing around in my head.” It bothers him how naturally this lie comes out, “I’ll… ask about it.”

Chie tilts her head, “‘Ask about it’? Ask who? We’re the only one who know about personas in the first place.” She points out, but she has to admit, having all those voices talking at once would drive her crazy.

“The Velvet Room.” Yu says, taking in the questioning looks of his friends.

Yu works his jaw in a circle, both happy and unhappy that he’s successfully gotten them away from the previous topic. “Igor and Margaret. They’re the ones who… help me with my personas.” He looks around again at his friends' confused faces, “You know how I zone out sometimes, usually in the TV World, but sometimes in the shopping district, too?” When each of them nods, he continues. “That’s where I go into the Velvet Room, where I talk to them, and a girl named Marie.”

No one says anything for a solid ten seconds, before Yosuke coughs, remembering that they have a limited time to talk about this. “Man, this whole time I thought you were just meditating or something whenever you did that.” He has a ton more questions, but those can wait when they have time.

Chie hums in agreeance, “It’s always super creepy, too. You don’t react no matter what we do.”

Yukiko smirks, “I wonder if Teddie has another pair of those glasses…” She mutters, mostly to herself.

Yu gives her a halfhearted glare, “Don’t do anything to me while I am not in this plane of existence. I do not consent.” He says with a smile, before processing what Chie said. “Wait… what have you done to me while I was in the Velvet Room?”

Yosuke turns to her as well, “Yeaaah, what have you done?” He asks with narrowed eyes, equally curious as Nanako reenters the room.

“Nanako-chan! D-did you bring Yu-kun’s coffee?” Chie asks, her face hot and desperately not wanting to talk about how she almost held his hand while he was essentially unconscious.

Nanako nods, giving a small smile. “Yeah, I had to heat it up, so, sorry it took so long.” She says, eyeing Chie’s blushing face and noticing the lighter atmosphere in the room.

Yu takes the mug from her, “Thank you, Nanako.” He takes a sip, burning his tongue. He winces, then smiles and pats her head. “It’s delicious.” He surveys the room, everyone is still focused on him, and he notices Yosuke’s apparel. “You come here from work?”

Yosuke looks down at the apron he’s wearing, smiling. “Yup, gotta make sure my best bro’s okay.” Him and Yu have gone through a lot, so he feels it’s right to say that. Then his smile drops, and his eyes go wide. “Oh shit, I gotta get back to work!” He yells, running out of the room.

“No swearing! Put a note in the jar on the kitchen counter!” Nanako yells after him with a frown.

“Shit, sorry! Shit, again? G-God dammit!” He swears multiple times from downstairs, making all of the other teens laugh, and Nanako’s adorable pout deepen.

They hear the door shut, and Yu turns to his companions. “So, you two wanna stay for dinner?” He flashes a confident smile, “I’ll cook~” He says with a lilt.

Yukiko shakes her head, “That sounds lovely, but I have to go back to the inn. I’m sorry.” She says, genuinely disappointed she won’t get to try his cooking. She looks at the clock in Yu’s room, “I should probably leave now, actually.”

Yu smiles, “Next time, then.” He says, knowing full well what the effect will be.

Yukiko’s face heats up, “N-next time?” She asks, embarrassed, and he just tilts his head, as though he didn’t mean anything more by it. If she’s being honest with herself, she hates how much of an affect he has on her sometimes. Especially since she knows how Chie feels towards the boy, but she can’t really help it if he acts like this, can she?

Nanako looks between the two, confused, then she looks at Yu. “Can I help you cook?” She asks.

“Of course you can.” Yu says as he stands up, gesturing for Yukiko to follow so he can walk her out.

Walking down the stairs, Chie notices that she hasn’t said anything in response to being asked to stay for dinner. “I umm, should probably get home too. I gotta walk Muku.” She lies, still feeling very conflicted about today’s events.

“A shame. Guess you have my cooking all to yourself, Nanako.” Yu says, punctuating with a chuckle.

He walks Yukiko to the door and sees her out, bidding her a good night. He turns around to see Nanako sitting down in her usual spot, and Chie putting her shoes on. “Thought you’d be walking home with Amagi.”

Chie snorts, “That your attempt at small talk? You walked us both home before, you know we don’t exactly live on the same street.” She jokes, then she becomes slightly awkward, remembering that night once again.

Yu remembers something as well as Chie’s walking through the front door, “Satonaka.” She turns around with raised eyebrows, “I… didn’t really answer your question from… earlier.”

Chie blanches, “N-no, it’s fine. Y-you should just rest for today.” She says as she starts walking away, just stepping out on the front stoop.

“You deserve an answer, Chie.” He declares confidently, now standing next to the door frame.

Chie turns around again, but now with a shocked expression and a slight pink on her cheeks. “Y-you called me ‘Chie’...”

Yu averts his gaze and clears his throat, and enters an internal debate with himself. However, he comes to a solution rather quickly. It’s not one he’s proud of, though. “Forget that happened, please. But, I mean it, I need to answer you, or that wouldn’t be fair to you.” Oh, the irony.

Chie makes a mental note to not forget that, it’ll be a fond memory to look back on after this. Then she steels herself for the rejection she knows is coming. “O-okay.” She says, watching his face.

Yu still doesn’t look at her, he doesn’t think he can with how bad he feels, and he hasn’t even done it yet. He’s about to run his hand through his hair, but stops himself, remembering that Chie thinks it might be a tick, or a tell in this case.

Nanako looks over at the two teenagers by the front door, she’s interested in their conversation, sure, but she knows that it’s not her business. So she just turns up the volume on the TV.

“Kou Ichijo is gonna ask you out when we win the next game.” Yu feels this gross, stinging feeling bubble up in his throat after he said it. Maybe he’s a better actor than he gives himself credit for. He even said ‘when’, like he knows he’s setting this up.

Chie’s mind goes blank. She thought for sure she was gonna get rejected right now. Hell, out of all the scenarios she came up with, unlikely as some may be; such as him reciprocating her feelings, this was not what she expected. “K-Kou Ichijo? The basketball player?” She asks dumbly, not knowing what else to say.

Yu nods, still not looking at her. “That’s uhh… why I haven’t… done anything.” Yu lies through his teeth. He didn’t even know that when she kissed him, he had a short period where he could’ve done anything, but he didn’t. How shitty must he be to throw one of his new friends under the bus when he told him that secret in confidence, even asking him to help in the matter. Maybe this was helping, Yu doesn’t know, he just knows that he feels fucking awful.

Chie still can’t fathom that rather than being rejected, she was told about a possible upcoming confession, and from a completely different person, no less. “Umm… okay…”

He’s managed to sidetrack her. He sighs, hoping to somehow quell the self hatred a bit. “I feel awful for telling you, but… you deserved to know.” He says, though, and he’d never admit it out loud, a small part of him feels happy right now. As though he’s ‘warning’ her, like he’s doing this to keep her to himself. He hates that part of himself.

Chie nods slowly, “Thanks, I guess.” She says, still trying to fathom how someone she’s only interacted with a handful of times has a crush on her. She didn’t even know that Yu and Kou were friends, let alone Yu being on the basketball team. She thinks back to herself all the little signs of Yu being affected by the kiss, wishing it was for a different reason. Him taking back certain teases, him minimizing all physical contact, him lessening verbal contact. She doesn’t have the answer she expected, nor wanted, but she can’t just say that, especially not with this bombshell dropped on her. “I’ll um, see you later… I guess.”

Yu closes his eyes as he turns towards her, flashing what he hopes is a confident smile. “Yeah, see you, Satonaka.” He hisses through his teeth when he opens his eyes and she’s out of his sight.

He closes the door behind him and walks over to the couch, slouching down into it, akin to Dojima when he gets home from work. “Hey Nanako?” He asks, tone flat and devoid of energy.

Nanako hums, “Yeah, Big Bro?”

“Which is worse, lying? Or dancing around the truth?” He asks, hoping that the surprisingly mature child gives him an insightful answer.

Nanako turns around to look at him, eyes full of concern. “I think I’d rather just be told the truth than anything else.”

Yu sighs and shuts his eyes tightly, “Yeah. Yeah, me too.”

Silence stretches for a brief moment, before Nanako speaks up again. “Hey Big Bro?”

Yu just hums in response.

Nanako readjusts herself, finding herself interested in getting this question finally answered for herself, rather than just guessing based on what Yosuke said once and the limited interactions they’ve had. “Do you… like Chie?”

Yu feels the back of his head throb, remembering when she shoved him, and feeling a warmth on his right cheek, remembering when she kissed him. He remembers all the tiny moments they’ve had: training, Aiya, inside the TV, all of it. “Yeah.”

Nanako stifles a giggle, happy that he has his eyes closed so he didn’t see her fist pump. “I think she likes you too!” She says with a bright smile.

Yu frowns, “Yeah, me too.” How could he not think that too?

Nanako doesn’t notice his frown as she turns around to watch the TV again, “I think you should ask her out on a date!”

Yu chuckles bitterly as he stands up, patting Nanako on the head. She tilts her head up to look at him, likely not hearing the bitterness in his laughter, since she has a smile on her face.

“Maybe after the game.” He lies with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouch.
> 
> In the next chapter Kanji will be formally joining the Investigation Team, and perhaps some basketball training for Yu and Yosuke.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned!


	16. Is the Antenna Messed Up?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke has a dream.
> 
> Yu reflects on what's happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2900 hits and 90+kudos!!!! Y'all keep makin me feel all warm and fuzzy. Whether it's with these numbers, or with the comments, thank you all.
> 
> The beginning of this chapter starts off a tad violent, so be warned.
> 
> Enjoy!

***Yosuke POV***

**???/???**

The lights are blaring in his blurred vision, the music is nigh deafening, and his body aches in every possible spot. He hears someone laughing at him, at his pain, and it makes him seethe. He has no idea what’s going on, no idea why he’s fighting, and no idea why he’s losing. But he fights against his screaming bones as he tries to stand up, wincing when the lights become even more present in his sight.

He grunts as one of his knees makes a noise it definitely shouldn’t when he stands up. His eyes begin to adjust to the lights, and the music seems to quiet down. He can make out a shape in the blinding light, a person, and one walking towards him, at that. He grips his kunai harder for some reason, feeling some cuts on his hands reopen.

“Just stay down, Captain.” A voice says, quiet and mocking. It’s a voice he’s heard before, but he can’t place it. The figure moves their hand, and a blue light amidst the blinding white shines through. There’s the sound of glass shattering, and then there’s a significantly larger figure standing behind the other.

His body tenses, and his arms instinctually raise to protect himself. At least his face is protected as he’s sent flying into a wall, at least that’s what it feels like. He could feel multiple ribs break upon impact, he knows he can’t get up again. His head lulls over to the side, letting him see two red lights seemingly aimed at him through the white, and for some reason, he smiles.

He feels something on his leg, and it’s enough to make him scream. He forces himself to look at what’s causing it, and it takes whatever breath he had left away from him. He was fighting **him**? He steps on his leg harder, until there’s a sickening crack, and Yosuke screams again.

There’s something cold against his neck, and something warm begins to drip down whatever it is.

It gets pressed harder into his neck, as, what he now feels is, a blade begins to cut into the flesh. 

He tries to raise his arms, but he can’t.

He tries to talk, but he can’t.

There’s a soft laughter, and his vision becomes all too clear, as Yu Narukami, his best friend and partner on the Investigation Team, smiles at him. But it’s a sickening smile, unnatural and psychotic.

“You honestly thought you stood a chance.” Yu laughs again, and his eyes flash yellow for an instant. “Even when this was all made for you, when it’s **your** story, you’re still not enough.” Yu stands up and brings his katana over his head, smiling that smile at Yosuke once again. “You’ll always be less than me, Yosuke.”

The katana swings downwards.

“ **YOSUKE-KUN!** ” A voice he’s never heard before screams his name, then everything goes black.

\------

**6/6 Monday**

“Yosuke!” A voice he’s heard before hushly says his name, waking him up as they shake his shoulder. Groggily, he lifts his head up and sees Chie standing next to his desk. “C’mon, we gotta head up to the roof. Kanji-kun’s at school today!” She says enthusiastically.

Yosuke waves his hand dismissively, “Alright, alright,. I’m up. Geez, could you be more annoying?” She begins her retort, but he tunes it out as he sees a familiar figure enter the classroom, the one who just killed him, in fact. _It was just a dream… So why the hell are my hands getting so clammy?!_

“You guys coming?” Yu asks quietly, and Chie must’ve stopped yelling at him at some point, because he was able to be heard.

“Yup!” Chie says quickly, leaving the classroom as soon as she finished. _Hmm?_

Yu sighs and runs a hand through his hair, before looking at Yosuke. “Shall we?”

Yosuke wills every nerve in his body to not let his voice shake, “Yeah, t-to Kanji we go!” He says, cringing when he finishes. _Wow, could I have made that more obvious?_ Luckily, Yu says nothing and just nods with a small smile.

Pushing open the door to the rooftop, seeing Yukiko and Chie sitting side by side, they both walk over. Yosuke takes a seat while Yu remains standing a bit of a distance away from them, _The hell’s going on?_

“Yo! Sorry I’m late.” Kanji says as he busts through the door, looking very sheepish once he walks over to the group.

“All good.” Yosuke says, hoping to help alleviate his uneasiness. He meets Yu’s eyes for a second, and immediately looks away. _It didn’t actually happen, stop feeling so scared, damn it._

No one says anything for a brief period, maybe twenty seconds of all them just looking at Kanji and exchanging glances between each other, save Yu looking at Chie and Yosuke looking at Yu. _So, is he gonna say anything? Or…_

“Uhh…” Kanji starts, rubbing the back of his neck with an uncomfortable expression on his face. “...Guess I should start this by saying ‘thanks’? I barely remember what happened though…”

All three Investigation Team members look to Yu, who’s still looking at Kanji when he nods. Yukiko speaks up, “There are some things we’d like you to tell us about.”

“First off, who was that boy you met with?” Chie asks.

Kanji tilts his head, then his eyes go wide with realization. “N-Naoto? I-I really don’t know much about him… I mean, I’ve only met him twice.” He says with a very faint pink dust on his features.

Chie waves her hand, “You guys went on a walk together after school, so what’d you two talk about?” She says, coughing when she remembers. “I m-mean, before we interrupted you two…”

 _Wouldn’t have gotten caught if you just went along with my idea…_ “W-well, he just asked me if I’d seen anything strange recently, then I saw you two ‘lovebirds’.” Kanji says mockingly with air quotes, then he wiggles a finger between Yosuke and Chie.

“Please just forget about that…” Yosuke and Chie say simultaneously, _Totally woulda worked though._ Yosuke smiles to himself.

Kanji chuckles, before blushing again. “I uhh... I think I got really happy when he said he found me intriguing. So that mighta been why I was a lil’ extra pissed when I saw you guys.” He says with a sheepish grin, scratching his cheek.

 _He got… happy?_ “So… are you…?” Yosuke lets his question hang in the air, hoping Kanji gets it, so he can define it for himself.

Seems like Yu gets it first, “That doesn’t really matter, does it?” He asks with a small, warm smile on his face, but it reminds Yosuke of that _other smile._

Kanji coughs, still scratching his cheek. “I m-mean… maybe?” He chews his bottom lip for a few seconds before continuing, “Guys are a lot more chill, ya know? Girls can be really… terrible sometimes. So obnoxious and… and loud.” He kicks the ground, “I don’t really get it myself.”

Yosuke chuckles, “Yeah, I can feel you on that. Women can be pretty awful sometimes.” He says with his winning smile and a wink.

Chie and Yukiko glare at him, “You’re not speaking from experience, are you, Yosuke?” Yukiko asks with malice dripping from her tone, and a slightly scary glint in her eyes.

Chie scoffs, “Please, Yukiko. He doesn’t have any experience to speak of.” She says with a faux smile.

 _Too easy, man._ Yosuke smirks and jerks a thumb towards the two girls, “See?” Which makes Kanji laugh and Yu chuckle softly.

“Were you just riling us up for a stupid joke?!” Chie asks angrily, grabbing his shoulder with a little more force than necessary.

Yosuke puts his hand over hers, trying to remove her hand and failing. “I-it was k-kinda funny though, right?”

Yukiko smiles a smile that makes him very uncomfortable, “You’re asking if the joke made at our expense was funny, Yosuke-kun?” _S-she’s using an honorific again?!_

“God, I sound really lame right now, don’t I?” Kanji’s voice cuts in, he and Yu must’ve continued talking, because their expressions are pretty different than before. Chie lets go of Yosuke’s shoulder and sits down again, and Yosuke rubs it gently.

Yu smirks at Kanji, “Yeah, little bit.” He says teasingly, holding up his thumb and his index finger and pinching them together, leaving a small space between them.

Kanji exhales through his nose as a small laugh, “Yeah, figured as much.” He looks up to the sky, “Ya know, I’ve never talked about any of this stuff before. Guess I never had anyone to tell it to.”

Chie hums, “Ya know, I’m surprised. You’re a good kid.” _Certainly doesn’t look like one…_

Kanji blushes and scratches his cheek again, “D-don’t call me a ‘good kid’...”

Yosuke smirks at him, “C’mon, you’re a big guy, you can take it.”

Yu coughs, and everyone turns to him. “Well, I wanna ask you about what you remember after chasing us.”

Kanji tilts his head, “Uhh… I think I just went home to sleep off my disappointment.” His eyebrows furrow and he crosses his arms, “...Wait, no. I think someone came before then.”

The team’s eyes go wide, “What?! Someone came to your house?! Who was it?!” Yosuke shouts, bombarding him with questions that need answers.

Kanji puts up his hands, “W-woah, shit man, calm down. It’s just a feeling I had, not really sure if anyone actually came.” _God damn it… So close!_ Chie groans in frustration before Kanji continues, “Other than that, I remember some weird dark entrance thing, and the next thing I remember is waking up in front of that sauna. Cops called me crazy when I said all this to them.” _Of course they did…_

Yukiko brings a hand to her chin, brows furrowed and eyes distant. “A dark entrance…” She says as though she’s piecing something together. She looks at Kanji, “Could it have been a TV?”

Kanji looks baffled for a moment, “Huh?” But then he looks at the floor with a thoughtful expression, “...Actually… now that you mention it, maybe so.” His gaze turns to Yukiko again, “Why do you ask?”

Yukiko averts her gaze, “No reason, I was just wondering.” Then, she locks eyes with Yu, who nods at her.

Kanji notices the exchange and narrows his eyes, “Sooo… You guys playin’ detective or somethin’?”

All of them turn to him, and Chie shrugs. “Well, somethin’ like that.” She says somewhat casually. _I’m actually kinda proud, we’re all playing this cool!_

Kanji smiles a bit, “Anything I can do to help?” Yu quirks an eyebrow at him, so he elaborates. “If there’s some bastard out there who put me through this, I ain’t gonna rest till I make ‘em pay.” _Hell yes! A walking tank like him, how could he not help?!_

Yosuke flashes his winning smile, “Whaddya say, Yu?” He asks, already knowing the answer.

“Maybe we should talk it over at Junes.” _Wha-_ Yu smirks, “We gotta let him know what we know, after all.”

Kanji beams, “Hell yeah! Thank you, Sir! I’ll gladly put my life on the line for you guys!” He emphasizes by pumping one of his fists in the air.

Yu tilts his head with a smile on his face, “‘Sir’?” And it reminds Yosuke of _that smile_ again.

_It didn’t happen, chill out._

\------

***Yu POV***

**6/7 Tuesday**

“So… what do you think it means?” Yosuke asks as they stand in the boys locker room, changing into their jerseys.

“I think,” Yu starts, looking up at Yosuke, as he continues tying his shoes. “that it’s obvious the killer is watching the programs now.” He grunts as he stands up, “Don’t think I wanna know why, though.”

Yosuke chuckles as he straightens his jersey, “I’m with you on that.” He smiles, but then it fades. “Hey…” He starts, but he shakes his head after he lets it hang. “...Nevermind, I’ll ask you after practice.”

 _...Alright._ “Sure.” Yu flashes him a small smile, and Yosuke winces in response, before he walks out into the gym. _What’s up with him?_

Yu walks to the door that leads to the gym and stops in front of it. He inhales, _Maybe if I just suck, they’ll kick me off the team and I’ll have no part in this. ...What the fuck is wrong with me? Why was that my first thought? ‘Hey, I’m Yu Narukami. In high school I sabotaged my basketball team because my friend and captain of the team said he was gonna ask out a girl that I have no intentions of getting with if we won.’ That’s a good show of character._

He exhales, _I need to calm down. Just… act normal. Don’t give any signs that you’ve talked to Satonaka about him, and give it your all. Practice’ll be over before you know it, then you can ask when the game is, and mentally prepare yourself._ He pushes the door open.

“There you are!” Kou shouts, just narrowly avoiding a stray pass. “Checkin’ your phone or something?”

Yu smirks, but it makes him nauseous to act. “Something like that.”

“Oh, right.” Kou says as he walks over to Yu, throwing an arm around his shoulder, making a burning sensation form in Yu’s throat. “You put out any feelers for me with Chie?” He asks with a smile that makes the sensation worse.

Yu’s smirk falls, but he doesn’t let Kou see it. “Might have, but I still think you should talk to her yourself, man.” He pats Kou on the back and slips out from under his arm, “Everyone loves a person with confidence. I’m sure Satonaka’s no exception.” _Nearly certain of it, in fact._ He bitterly laughs to himself.

“M-maybe you can give me some pointers?” Yu turns to face Kou with a quirked brow, “Wanna hang after practice? I could use some advice from the ‘Yasogami Heartthrob’.” He says with a wink.

_…_

“‘Yasogami Heartthrob’?” Yu asks in genuine confusion.

Kou chuckles, “Yeah, it’s what the first-years are calling ya.” He leans in, covering his mouth on one side with one of his hands. “You know, you’ve got a good amount of dudes thirsting for you, too.”

Yu smiles and shakes his head, “That a confession, Kou?” He says teasingly, making Kou turn red from embarrassment and shake his head vigorously. “First Yosuke, now you?”

Kou’s eyes go wide, “W-wait a sec, Yosuke’s g-”

Yu puts a hand up, “No, I just made the same joke to him before.”

Kou nods, and smiles. “Well whatever, so yeah. You wanna hang after practice?”

_…_

Yu runs a hand through his hair, “Nah, sorry. I already have plans.”

Kou deflates a bit, “Damn. Well, I’ll ask you next practice too, I think any advice from you would give me a surefire chance, ya know?”

Yu smirks and rolls his eyes, “I’m sure.” He says sarcastically, before shrugging. “C’mon, we’ve spent enough time procrastinating.”

_…_

_I feel sick._

\------

_June 20th, huh?_

“Yo, senpai!” They hear a voice call out as they walk through the school gates, turning to see Kanji walking up to them. “You guys got plans right now?”

Yu and Yosuke look at each other and shrug, “Nah, what’s up?” Yosuke asks.

“Figured we should get to know each other, so you guys wanna go somewhere and grab somethin’ to eat?” Kanji asks with a smile.

“Aiya.” Yu says immediately, and when both boys turn to him with raised brows, he shrugs. “Got a craving for some meat.” _...Definitely no other reason._

Yosuke smirks and nods, “I’m definitely gonna quote you on that in the wrong context.” He says teasingly.

Yu smirks back at him, “Go for it.” And Yosuke winces in response, _The hell? Alright, I’m getting answers._ “You alright, Yosuke?” He asks as he starts walking.

Yosuke doesn’t answer for a few seconds, and Yu assumes he didn’t hear him, so he repeats himself. “I heard you, sorry.” He turns to him with an unreadable expression, “Have you ever… thought about us fighting?” _...What?_

Kanji and Yu lock eyes for a moment, both thoroughly confused, before Kanji asks “In what way?”

Yosuke doesn’t miss a beat, “In the TV.”

Yu brings a hand to his chin, he’s thought about what effects a persona could have on another persona user. Seeing as they can buff and heal each other, it stands to reason that they could easily hurt one another as well. “Not you specifically, but I’ve given thought about fighting other persona users before, why?”

Yosuke shrugs, but his face is giving off anything but flippancy. “Just had a dream about it, is all.” He turns to Yu with a smile, “So, did I tell you I’m getting a motorcycle? Well, getting my license first, but the motorcycle ain’t far off!”

Kanji tilts his head, “You wanna drive a motorcycle, Senpai?”

Yosuke turns to Kanji with a bright smile, “Hell yeah, I do! Imagine this…” He says, waving his arm dramatically across the scenery. “...Driving across the countryside with a girl, with nothing to hold on to, she has to squeeze in close, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing her-”

Yu puts a hand up while he’s laughing, coughing after his throat starts to hurt. “Alright, I get it. You got someone in mind for that ‘countryside drive’?” He asks, genuinely curious.

Yosuke shakes his head, “Nah, but, c’mon. Chicks love guys with motorcycles, so I won’t have to worry about who when I have so many options, y’know?”

Kanji scratches his cheek, “That’s a bit… optimistic.” He then smiles, “Though, driving around instead of walkin’ everywhere does sound kinda fun.”

Yosuke beams, “Exactly! Even if you’re not gonna be hunting for chicks, getting a motorcycle’s just a good idea!” He turns to Yu, “Perfect for you, huh, Partner?”

 _There goes whatever fraction of a good mood I had left._ Yu responds with what he hopes is a convincing smile.

Kanji seems confused, “You’re not ‘on the hunt’ Senpai?”

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “Shit, sorry.”

“It’s fine. No, Kanji, I don’t do romance.” Yu explains, and the way he says it almost sounds rehearsed.

Kanji’s eyes widen in surprise, “Really? With all the rumors I been hearing, I just assumed you’d be drowning in it.”

Yu looks at him skeptically, “Does everyone just think I’m a manwhore, or something?” _What kind of vibes do I give off to give people that impression?_

Kanji shrugs, “What do you expect? We’re all horny teenagers. They just so happen to be horny for you.” He punctuates with a laugh.

Yosuke joins in, “Seriously. Daisuke was right, your popularity is unreal.”

Yu shrugs, his mood falling further with the mention of that day. “Can’t say I know what my appeal is.”

After making more small talk, and deciding that, yes, Yu should take the test to get his license, they arrive at Aiya and are currently sitting down and eating. Nostalgia fills Yu, and it makes his whole meal taste bitter.

“You alright, man?” Yosuke asks, putting a hand on Yu’s shoulder. “You haven’t been saying much.”

Yu smirks and runs a hand through his hair, “I’m good, just thinking.”

Kanji puts his chopsticks down on his bowl with a clink, “Dafs bullfhid.” He says with a mouth full of beef.

Yu chuckles, “Sorry, what?”

“I fhed,” Kanji chews for a few more seconds, then swallows. “That’s bullshit, you’ve had this like… what’s the word? Disconnect... from your voice and your face.”

Yu’s smirk falls, but only now does he realize that he wasn’t smirking in the first place. “Oh.”

_…_

Yosuke puts his chopsticks down as well, leaning an elbow on the table. “You wanna talk about whatever’s up? Though, I think I have an idea of what it involves.”

_…_

_Fuck it._

“I told Satonaka about Kou.” Yosuke’s eyes widen, and Kanji waits for Yu to continue. “I feel awful for doing it, but…”

Kanji nods at him, “‘But…’?” And gestures for him to continue.

Yu shakes his head, “...I’m such a shitty person. I told her that, threw Kou’s secret out when he told us that in confidence, and I’m not even…” _...gonna use it to my advantage._ “God, I fucking suck.” Yu says, frustrated with himself.

Yosuke coughs awkwardly, “...You just told another person.” Yu slaps a hand to his own forehead and groans. “But… why, dude?”

Yu removes the hand from his face and looks up at the light above their table, “She asked me a question that I couldn’t, but needed to answer. That’s what I came up with, a perfect waltz around what she asked.” He says, sticking a piece of food in his mouth when he finishes.

Kanji takes a sip of soda, “So, I’m just gonna make a guess based on what I just heard…” Yu inhales sharply, feeling very confident that he knows what Kanji is about to say. “...You got a thing for Chie-senpai?”

Yu doesn’t respond, he just keeps looking up at the light.

“So just ask her out, then.” Kanji says, picking up his chopsticks again as if the conversation ends with that. _The hell kind of a suggestion is that?_

Yu looks at Kanji, “It’s not that simple.” He declares quietly.

Kanji quirks a brow, “Why not? Cuz from what I’ve heard and seen, it is.” He says, somewhat antagonistically, or so Yu thinks.

“It isn’t.” Yu says with a slight bite in his voice.

Kanji gestures for him to continue, even though he already finished his statement. “...I’m not hearing an answer.”

Yosuke coughs again, “A-alright guys, ease up.”

Kanji waves his hand dismissively, “Nah, nah. I’m interested, why isn’t it that simple? You like her, if she was that against even faking being in a couple with you,” He gestures to Yosuke, making him cough. “I bet she likes you. That’s all that matters, so just ask her out. There ain’t a reason to make things complicated when they ain’t to begin with.”

_…_

Yu takes another bite of his food, swallowing it quickly and pulling out his wallet. “I forgot, I told Nanako I’d cook for her tonight.” He says as he puts down enough money to pay for all of their meals, “See you guys tomorrow.”

“Yu, hang on, he wasn’t egging you on.” Yosuke says, grabbing Yu’s wrist. “Say something!” He hushly says to Kanji.

Kanji shrugs, “I just feel like if you’re so adamant about not doing it, your reason must be damn good.”

_…_

Yu gently pulls Yosuke off, and nods with a small, frail smile on his face. “See you.”

As he’s leaving he hears Yosuke reprimanding Kanji, but he doesn’t think he deserves it. _Why didn’t Yosuke make a bigger deal out of it? He lashed out at me for being dishonest before, but this time he seemed...timid._

He continues walking, lost in his thoughts. _June 20th, hmm? Why did I feel like knowing when the game was would do anything for me? If we win, he asks her out. If we lose, he doesn’t. What happens after either of those? Would I…_ He shakes his head, _Stop it. I shouldn’t… feel like that._

His walk continues, growing ever closer to his house. _Is Kanji right? While I can agree that I’ve certainly made things more complicated than they need to be, I don’t think my situation is as simple as ‘just ask her out’. For one thing, I don’t want to do that. For another, after all that’s happened, would she even want that?_

A dog barks in the distance as he walks through an intersection, _Why did this have to happen? I could’ve just done what I’ve always done. Go to new place, go to school at new place, make a few temporary friends, then leave. Instead, I get dragged into another world, get superpowers, meet other people with superpowers who then become my friends, start trying to solve a murder mystery with aforementioned friends, and I… get a crush on a girl who checks literally every box I could have, who also is most likely crushing on me. But even then, one thing stays the same, no matter how much shit happens, no matter who I meet or who I…_

_I’m leaving._

_That’s always the one constant._

A deep bark pierces his ears as he’s pushed against the side of a building by a large dog assaulting his face with slobbery kisses. “W-who-” He can’t even finish a sentence, this dog is overpowering him.

“Muku! You can’t just-” A feminine voice shouts, a familiar feminine voice, at that. “Y-Yu?!” In between the dogs strokes of the tongue across his face, he’s able to turn and look at the owner of the voice, and probably the dog. Who else, but Chie Satonaka, holding a steak skewer in one hand and some bundle of fabric under her other arm.

_…I feel like I’m cursed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm, wonder what that dream could've been...?
> 
> I'm excited to write more for Kanji's interactions with Yu, the callout at Aiya is probably going to be the first of many until the inevitable confession, which, unless I get more ideas, or lose interest in some others, should be at some point in August (In the story)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next week!


	17. Could You Check the Guide for Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tu vero excaecati unt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3200 hits!
> 
> And!
> 
> 100!
> 
> Kudos!

***Chie POV***

“Uhhh… H-hey, Yu! How’s it goin’?” Chie asks awkwardly.

_We haven’t talked alone since we had that talk… Gee, thanks Muku. Always dragging me into stuff…_

Yu is still currently being assaulted by Muku, so he’s angling his neck weirdly so his mouth isn’t in Muku’s path. “It’s certainly going.” He says as he gives the good boy in front of him pets. Muku rolls onto the ground after feeling satisfied with how he’s disheveled Yu, so Yu begins rubbing his belly as he forces a smirk at Chie. “So, you’re dropping the honorific now?”

 _He doesn’t really look happy…_ Chie pushes that thought back, as well as the heat on her face. “M-my bad.” _That just kinda slipped out._ She gives him what she hopes isn’t an awkward smile, “Sorry about Muku, he doesn’t usually attack people like that unless he knows ‘em really well. He made a beeline for you too, I had to sprint after him for like… thirty seconds.”

His forced smirk stays on his face, still petting Muku as he quirks a brow at Chie. “I smell like Aiya right now. You think he might’ve chased the scent since it’s a common scent on you?”

Chie takes a chunk of meat off the skewer in her hand, “Don fink sho.” She says in between chewing, but covering her mouth because she is a lady after all. “He rarely jumps on me like that. He usually only does if I’ve like... slept over at Yukiko’s or something.”

Yu stands up when Muku seems satisfied and he enters that stupid, charming pose of his. He smiles a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, “Whatcha got there?” He asks quietly.

 _I really hope I’m not the only one feeling how awkward it is to talk with just the two of us…_ She waves her skewer back and forth, “Steak skewer. Had a craving for some meat.” She says with a bright smile.

He chuckles softly, “You know, I said the exact same thing earlier today.” His smile falls, and some emotion she doesn’t know swims in his grey eyes before he shakes his head and it’s gone. “How about the other thing?” He says, nodding towards her other arm.

 _Oh, right! This meeting was actually a good thing! Now I don’t have to go and drop it off at his house._ She tosses it to him and it lands on his head, covering his face. “Oh, oops.” Chie says, face flushing as she threw it too high and he couldn’t catch it.

“Oh, my jacket.” He says, muffled by the jacket draped over his head. He pulls it off, and she sees he has a genuine smile on his face. It’s small, but it warms her heart all the same. “I kinda forgot you didn’t give this back to me.” His eyebrows furrow, but his smile stays as he brings the jacket up to his face. “It smells like him.” He points at Muku.

Chie’s face heats up a bit, “A-ah, well… Muku got into my room when I was at school today, and he kinda… made a bed out of your jacket?” She laughs awkwardly.

Yu laughs, that genuine smile staying on his face and warming hers even more. “That’s pretty…” His eyebrows furrow again as he trails off, “...You said he only does that to people he’s familiar with?”

Chie tilts her head, “Yeah, why?”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and the only sound she hears is Muku huffing out a breath after cleaning himself. Yu reaches down and scritches behind Muku’s ears, “...Did you, uhh…” He trails off, seeming unsure of what he wants to ask. He locks eyes with her, “Did you wash my jacket like I asked?”

_Oh no…_

Chie blanches first, being upset with herself that, because of the kiss, she forgot to take proper care of the jacket he left with her. It left her so frazzled, so surprised, and so… happy that she pretty much forgot almost every word that was spoken that day.

Then she turns crimson, remembering what she did with his jacket after closing the door. She didn’t do anything explicit with it, or anything disgusting, she just… kept it in her room. I mean, she forgot about it a day or two after bringing it in, but the day of… it provided her solace from her thoughts; her assumptions, rather. 

Well, they’re not really assumptions anymore. He doesn’t like her, Kou Ichijo does. The former statement’s been all but confirmed.

But the first night she had his jacket was different, all she had was the assumption that he didn’t like her, because why would he? The jacket smelled like him. It allowed her to indulge in fantasies of cute dates, like the one at Aiya, but real. It let her imagine him cooking a dinner for her, then watching one of her favorite movies and falling asleep on the couch next to each other.

But her assumptions won out over her nice thoughts, her hopes. As they always do.

So, she forgot about it. Then Muku broke into her room, learned his smell by sleeping on the jacket that may or may not have still been on the end of her bed, and that led her to where she is now; returning it to him.

A small, incredibly quiet voice in the back of her head tells her to ask him if she can keep it. A louder voice tells her to get confirmation that he doesn’t like her, _Tomoe, probably…_ But she ignores both of those voices and tries to cool her face, attempting to fan it with the hand holding her skewer.

Yu coughs, drawing her attention back to him and out of her thoughts. His lips curl ever so slightly upwards as he still pets her dog, “Still waiting for an answer.” He says teasingly, though there’s something… sad about the way he said it.

Chie scratches her cheek with her free hand, _What the hell do I say?! Wait…_ “I...k-kinda forgot?” She stammers out her half-truth, and his eyes immediately lock with hers. His gaze kind’ve makes her squirm a bit, “I-is there something on my face...?”

He smiles genuinely again, and it makes her heart race. “No, just… That’s so you.” He breaks eye contact and looks at Muku, “Don’t know why, but… I’m happy to hear that.” His smile becomes somewhat sad after he finishes.

 _Did something happen to him?_ Chie takes another chunk off of her skewer, this time she finishes before speaking, her face still hot. “What umm… what do you mean by that?” He doesn’t say anything for a bit, then he grunts and his hand grabs at his head. _No, not again!_ “Yu-kun!” She rushes over to his side, putting her free hand on his shoulder. “I’m here, just tell me what to do!” She shouts, and Muku begins whimpering at his owner's distress.

Yu’s face twists with pain, but his breathing remains steady, unlike last time. He slowly opens his eyes, seeing that Chie is now significantly closer to him. He drops his hand from his head, and it lands on Chie’s on his shoulder. His eyebrows are still furrowed, and his shoulder is still tense, but his eyes are soft. His fingers curl gently around her hand, moving them as though he’s about to intertwine their hands, making her face burn crimson once again, but he just pulls her off. 

“D-did you say something?” He asks nonchalantly, ignoring what just happened, how close they are to each other and how he totally did that finger curling thing on purpose.

Chie’s willing to look past that right now, _All that matters is that he’s okay._ She heaves a sigh of relief, “Geez, you scared me half to death! I thought you were about to pass out again…”

He scoots backwards, moving away from her a bit. She can make out a slight pink on his cheeks, but he shakes his head and it’s gone. He forces a smirk, “Nah, this one wasn’t as bad.” He dismissively waves a hand, “The other one was like a cluster headache that got somehow more painful. This was-”

Chie interrupts him as she puts her hand on his knee, she would’ve grabbed his shoulder, but he moved away. “Nobody followed up on that, did you ask the… Felt Room…? About it?”

His smirk falls, and he nods. “The Velvet Room,-” He corrects. “-and yeah, I did. But what they told me… doesn’t make any sense.” She tilts her head and gestures for him to continue, and he clears his throat. “Well for one thing, Igor wasn’t there, so I had to ask Margaret. And all she told me was to ‘hang out with Marie’.” He stands up, making her move her hand back to her side. “How is that even remotely an answer to what I asked?” He asks, quiet and frustrated.

 _...This is the second time he’s mentioned this ‘Marie’ girl… Who is she? And who is she to him?_ She shakes her head, getting away from that train of thought. “...Maybe ‘Marie’ knows?” She asks, keeping that familiar, vile feeling in her gut in check.

Yu shakes his head, “I doubt it, she’s an amnesiac.” _...He said that like it’s a normal thing._ He brings a hand to his chin, “I just can’t wrap my head around anything.” He moves his hand and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Muku walks up to him and gives him a massive lick, probably noticing his frustration. Yu chuckles, and gives him an appreciative pat on the head before standing up, jacket in hand. _I wish I could help him somehow, but if he doesn’t even know what’s going on with him, how can I?_

Yu rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, “Well…” He trails off, not looking at her. “...I’ll uh, see you tomorrow, I guess?”

Chie clears her throat, being unpleasantly reminded that, yes, there is still unresolved tension between them. Though… _Would it really be messing with him this much? ...Unless…_ She shakes her head, she shouldn’t entertain those thoughts anymore. She casts a glance at the jacket under his arm, then back to his face, still looking away from her. “Y-yeah, see you, Yu-kun.”

Yu snickers at something, making her narrow her eyes. “You don’t need to use the honorific, you know. You’ve already said my name without it twice now, so I don’t really care.” Her eyes widen, and he looks at her with that small smile. “Sounds nice when you say it.” Yu walks over to her, bends down and takes the last chunk of meat off her skewer. “Payment for giving it back to me so late.” He smirks a genuine smirk and winks as he turns around, walking away and leaving her and Muku to stare at his back.

She blushes feverishly, and Muku makes a noise of confusion. A bunch of emotions go through her at once. She’s angered by the fact that even when she ‘knows’ he doesn’t like her, he still has the gall to flirt with her so brazenly. She’s saddened by the fact that, even though he’s for some reason affected by what happened, he can still act the same as he always does. And lastly, she’s made happy at the fact that, even though he may be doing it unconsciously, or just because he likes teasing her, it still feels like he’s… noticing her.

Muku barks, snapping her out of her thoughts. He tilts his head at her and paws at her foot. She reaches down to pet him, letting Muku take the now bare skewer in her hand and siphoning off whatever remains.

Then it clicks, _Wait, he just stole my food!_ She huffs, and shouts at his increasingly distant figure. “I’m gonna make you buy me two more for that!” She can just barely make out him waving his hand over his head dismissively, making her huff again. “C’mon Muku, I gotta go get another skewer…”

———

***Yu POV***

Yu waves his hand dismissively, as both a retort and a second farewell. Then he turns a corner and leans against a wall, sliding down it. He brings a hand to his head, _What the actual fuck is wrong with me? Ignoring the headache thing, I’m a goddamn mess. I constantly dance around telling the truth, no matter who I’m talking to. I’ll just fucking walk away or go quiet when I get called out. I flirt and tease endlessly, even though I have no intentions of doing anything with anyone. And I consistently deny that I li-_

“Oh, Narukami-kun?” A voice cuts through his thoughts, and he removes the hand from his face to look at who’s speaking to him. _...Can I please just go home already?_

Yu stands up with a sigh, standing a few inches taller than the man in front of him. “Adachi-san.” He greets with a nod.

Adachi quirks a brow at the young man, “What’s got you so down? Figured a kid like you would be on cloud nine all the time!” He says with a smile.

Yu runs a hand through his hair, “Been a long day, is all.” _Please just let me leave…_ “I’d really like to stay and cha-”

“So, you doing anything different, Narukami?” He asks, his voice lacking the warmth he was speaking with before. Yu notices he dropped the honorific, but chooses not to comment on it, he’s too confused by the question.

Yu tilts his head, feeling a dull pain near his collarbone. “‘Different’?”

Adachi scratches the back of his head and shrugs, “You’re in high school ain’tcha?” He asks, gesturing to the uniform. The warmth returns to his voice, “I just thought you’d be out with your friends, or girls.” He puts his hands up as though he was accused of something, “Or boys! I dunno how you’re swinging thi-”

***STATIC***

Yu’s ears ring with what sounds like TV static at max volume, but it fades almost instantly. His head throbs, as does the pain in his collarbone. It’s not like it was before, it doesn’t hurt, it’s just… there. _What was… that?_

He focuses his gaze back onto Adachi, who’s checking his phone. “Oh shit! I gotta get back to my post, see ya, Narukami-kun!” He says as he begins running away animatedly. _...What a clown._

_…_

Yu looks down at the jacket under his arm, and he feels a small smile start to come to his face as he remembers Chie’s when he brought it up- _This is exactly what I’m talking about._ Yu interrupts his own reverie by chastising himself, _You’re leaving, you have no intention of doing anything with her, yet you still feel the want- no, the need to know you have an effect on her._

_…_

_It does kind’ve suck that it doesn’t smell like her, though._

The smile comes to his face anyway.

———

“So, how’ve ya been?” Dojima asks from the couch as Yu searches through the fridge. Yu spies a lone piece of ham on a paper plate… _...What is this aura?! I-I can’t even describe the fear I’m feeling right now. ...I’ll just leave it be…_

Yu closes the fridge with a shudder, _That slice of ham is gonna haunt me for the rest of my life._ He turns to his uncle and shrugs, “Been better. It’s been a long day.”

Dojima stands up from the couch, leaving the newspaper he was reading behind. “Oh yeah? Tell me about it.” When Yu gives him a questioning look, Dojima continues. “You’ve been here for two months now, and we’ve really only talked one-on-one a handful of times, so let’s have a chat!” He says with a small smile.

Yu shrugs, and gives his uncle a small smile in return. “Sure, why not?” He agrees quietly, moving to sit down at the kitchen table and pulling out a chair.

“Actually… don’t sit down.” Yu stops and quirks an eyebrow at Dojima, “Let’s go do something, I think Nanako’s out at a friend’s house, so we could go out and get her something after we finish.” _You ‘think’ Nanako’s out? I should talk to him about her, she feels like she’s getting neglected, that’s easy to see._

Yu pushes the chair back and nods, “Alright, what do you have in mind?”

Dojima flashes his nephew a toothy smile. “Bonding.” He says, as if that hints at anything.

———

A deafening boom sounds throughout an open space, accompanied by a clang, and Yu instinctively covers an ear with his hand.

Another boom, and another metallic clang a distance away. “Hot damn! I still got it.” Dojima says, and Yu can barely hear him over the ringing in his ears. _This wasn’t really what I thought would be happening today._ “I’ll go reset-” Dojima fixes him with a concerned look, “You alright? You didn’t get hit somehow, did you?”

Yu shakes his head and looks down to where Dojima’s looking, at the other hand covering the left side of his collarbone. _...Why am I…?_ “No, I’m fine, just-”

“What?” Dojima asks loudly, _His ears are probably ringing too, I’ll give him a second._ Yu gestures towards the five cans that his uncle knocked over deeper in the field, “Ah, got it.” Dojima passes Yu the pistol he was holding and goes to reset the cans.

The weight of the gun feels foreign in his hand, and that dull pain near his collarbone throbs. _The headaches are one thing, but what the hell is this? It doesn’t hurt when I touch it, it just… hurts. The headaches and this are synonymous usually, so why is it hurting alone right now? It better not be some metaphysical bullshit, like ‘I’m hurting alone right now, so I must too hurt alone physically.’_ Yu chuckles to himself, _‘I’m hurting alone right now,’ if emotional pain was directly related to physical pain, I’m sure that my friends would’ve been in more-_ His thoughts drift back to when they faced themselves, and how physically exhausted all of them were. _Oh shit… Do they really correlate like that…?_

He’s snapped out of his thoughts by a low laughter rumbling out of Dojima, “You look so deep in thought. Got this funny look on your face.” He nods to the gun that feels wrong in his hands, “You ready to learn?”

Yu nods, “Sure, but I’ll be honest, this wasn’t really what I thought we were gonna do.”

Dojima quirks a brow at him, “And what did you think we’d do?” He asks with the ghost of a smile on his face.

“Maybe see a movie with Nanako? Solve a crime as an Uncle and Nephew duo?” Yu shrugs, “Or just getting some dinner? Definitely not target practice.” He finishes with a smile.

Dojima smiles a bit sadly, “Yeah, I guess this isn’t the first thing we should be doing alone together. Guess I just wanted to relive the past a little…” He trails off, and Yu tilts his head with a concerned look. Dojima turns back to him, a bit more nostalgia in that smile. “Me and your mom used to do this a lot.”

Yu’s eyes widen, “Really?” _Didn’t expect that from a businesswoman…_

“Yeah. What? Did she never tell you that?” Dojima chuckles after asking, before his face shifts to a slight frown. “...Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask…” He locks eyes with Yu, “What’s umm…” He starts, showing his usual display of emotional awkwardness. “...What’s your relationship with your folks like?”

Yu doesn’t even need to think for his answer, so he responds immediately. “I’m supposed to have one?” He asks sarcastically with a smirk, knowing how unfunny that is.

Dojima’s frown deepens, “...Had a feeling.” Dojima walks closer and puts a hand on Yu’s shoulder, “Look… I want… I want you to be able to see me as a father figure. Like a parent away from your parents.”

Yu’s plastic smirk stays on his face, _Been doing this a lot today._ “We’ve talked more in two months than I have with my mom in a year.” He puts his hand over Dojima’s. “You and Nanako are doing great at making me feel like a part of the family.” _Now or never…_ “Though, I feel like we could do more group activities with the three of us.”

Dojima pulls his hand away and rubs the back of his neck, “...Yeah, I know. I’ve just been so busy lately… These disappearances, then reappearances are really eating up a lot of my time. I should try and make more time for myself.”

“At least for Nanako.” Yu adds with a smile, and Dojima just nods. _It’s a start._

“Alright, now let’s see if you’re a better shot than your mom.” Dojima says with a forced smile, _You’re a bad liar, Uncle._

———

**6/8 Wednesday**

Yu holds his wrist and wiggles the fingers on his right hand continuously, _My hand hurts… Think I’ll stick to just slashing shadows up rather than gunning them down._

“Yo!” Yosuke calls out to Yu as classes end for the day, Yu stops and greets him with a nod. “H-how was the rest of your day, yesterday?” He asks awkwardly.

He shrugs, “It was alright, talked to Satonaka a bit. Hung out with my uncle.” Yu stops for a moment, then snaps his fingers. “Oh, and I shot a gun.”

Yosuke’s eyes go wide, “What?! One of those isn’t like the others!” He stops for a moment, “Wait, you ran into Chie too yesterday after…” Yu nods, “...Talk about bad luck.”

Yu smirks, and he ignores Yosuke wincing at it. “Tell me about it. Eh, it was kinda nice though.” At Yosuke’s questioning look, he continues. “She gave me back my jacket.” Yu’s brow furrows as he processes what Yosuke said, “...Wait, you also ran into Satonaka?”

Yosuke nods, “Yeah, guess it was after you did, though. She didn’t have your jacket.” Yosuke turns to him with a grin, and that little glint in his eye he gets sometimes. “She did get all red when I brought you up, though.”

Yu stays silent for a few seconds, ignoring that part of him that’s happy to hear he’s able to make her blush without even being there. Wouldn’t Chie and Yosuke have better things to talk about other than him? Plus, things were, and are, still awkward from Aiya, so why would Yosuke…?

Yu narrows his eyes at Yosuke, making him get this confused and worried expression. “Yosuke. You’re not still playing matchmaker, are you?”

Yosuke’s eyebrows raise, “What? No. I was asking if she knew when your birthday was.” He says, entirely too convincingly.

“My birthday.” Yu repeats flatly.

Yosuke nods, “Your birthday.” He retorts, providing no change in tone or any additional information. _Not even gonna ask me when my birthday is. Now that’s commitment to the act._

Yu and Yosuke lock eyes for a bit, both staring hard into the other’s eyes. Yu waits for Yosuke to crack, and Yosuke shows no signs of wavering.

“Umm… are we interrupting something?” Yukiko asks, accompanied by Chie and Kanji at her sides.

The two still don’t break eye contact, “Nope.” They say simultaneously.

“Well, Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai wanted me to meet ‘Mr. Bear’?” Both boys nod, “So… we wanna head to Junes and go… inside a TV, right?” Both boys nod again.

Chie clears her throat, “You guys coming? Or… should we leave you to… whatever this is...?”

Yosuke breaks eye contact first, looking to everyone else. _Victory._ “Nah. Alright, let’s go team!” He says with a bright smile.

Yu smiles too, “You’re so lame sometimes, man.” He says as he starts walking.

“Well, someone had to say something to get everyone hyped! Let’s see you raise your voice and get everyone excited.” Yosuke says, now seemingly comfortable enough with him again to crack jokes about his voice.

Yu turns to him with a suggestive smirk, “I don’t need to raise my voice to get people excited.” He finishes with a wink, taking deep satisfaction in the multiple throat clears he hears when he turns around again.

His smile falls a bit.

 _Shit. I have my license test tomorrow and I haven’t studied._ He puts his hand to his chin, _I should be fine… right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh baby, oh baby. Next chapter's gonna be scooter trip to Okina City, and the camping trip! Get ready for some good ol' fashioned food poisoning. This chapter was a tad shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.
> 
> I don't plan on exploring Yu's relationship with his parents too much, since I feel like the point that needed to be made was made when he explained the scar got across. But who knows, there might be more moments like the one here that shows that his parents are real people, and not just a line used for explaining why he's in Inaba in the first five minutes of the game.
> 
> I've finally finalized the ships in the P5 fic I talked about in the first chapter of this. Obviously I'm finishing this one before working on anything else, and even after this, I'd most likely start the P3 fic, even though I haven't finalized the ships in that one. I just got more ideas for it, is all. (I'm just fuckin' stumped on who to ship Kotone with. It's between Mitsuru, Aigis or Akihiko, and I just can't decide. I need more ideas to come to me.)


	18. Do People Really Watch This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys try their luck with the ladies of the city.
> 
> Chie, despite her bleak feelings, decides to try her best and fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3500 hits!!!
> 
> This chapter's slightly shorter than usual, but I'll make up for it by having next week's be slightly longer!
> 
> Enjoy!

**6/15 Wednesday**

***The Boys***

Yu shakes his head, trying to shake away the dull headache he’s had since he woke up today. He turns to Yosuke who’s taking in the sights of Okina City, when he gets a text message.

 **YA** : Hello, Yu-kun. I’ll be hanging out with Chie today, but if you’d like to taste some of my cooking beforehand, I’d appreciate it! 

Yu actually shudders at the thought of eating more of… whatever she concocts, drawing Yosuke’s attention. He looks down at the phone, then he grins with a raised eyebrow. “Yukiko’s calling you by your first name too, now?” He asks as he begins looking around again.

 **YA** : I’ve been training, so I’m fairly sure you won’t get sick this time.

He sighs and nods, “I was hanging out with her a few days ago, and it just felt weird that she was the only one of you calling me ‘Narukami’.” 

**YN** : Sorry, can’t today.

Yu looks up from his phone, “So, what are we doing here exactly?” He asks, earning a confused look from Yosuke. “Don’t get me wrong, taking the scooter for a drive was pretty fun, but you made it sound like you have plans for today.”

Yosuke nods thoughtfully, then he turns to Yu with a bright smile. “I don’t have plans yet, but I’m sure the chicks that come up to us will wanna make some!”

Yu smiles and shakes his head, going back to his phone.

 **YN** : Sounds like I’ll be helping Yosuke attempt to get a date.

The response comes immediately.

 **YA** : A date??? For Yosuke-kun??? With who???

Yu smirks and flips his phone shut, turning back to Yosuke, then taking in his surroundings. “Be sure to tell Amagi if you do end up getting a date.”

Yosuke chuckles, “I’ll be sure to tell her ‘how many’ dates I get.” He emphasizes. He looks to the road they rode in from, “...Holy shit, he really ended up following us all the way here.”

Confused, Yu looks to where he’s looking, seeing Kanji pedaling his bike with vigor towards them. “That’s impressive.”

Kanji comes to a stop and takes off his helmet, grinning at the other two. “That was a breeze!” He wipes some sweat off his forehead, “It ain’t no sweat keepin’ up with some guys who’re still gettin’ used their scooters.”

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “If I hadn’t run out of gas back there, we woulda left you in the dust.” He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. “...I shouldn’t have cheaped out on gas just to have more money to fool around with.”

Yu pats him on the back with a smirk, “Yeah, but if you didn’t do that, how would you pay for the multitude of dates you’re about to get?” He says quietly.

Yosuke always feels bad for bringing him to loud places, but Yu seems like he’s having a good time. “True enough.” He says as he leans up against his motorcycle.

Kanji scratches the back of his head, “Hey, uh… mind if I head off for a bit? There’s this c-craft shop…”

Before Yosuke can say anything, Yu gives Kanji a thumbs up. “Wha-” Yosuke starts.

“Thanks, Senpai! I’ll be back in a bit, you guys get started without me!” He shouts as he starts running off.

They both watch him as he continues on his path, undeterred. “...Did he only come here for that?” Yosuke asks with a skeptical look.

Yu shrugs, “And if he did?” He asks with a smirk, and Yosuke turns to him, ready to answer. “Don’t answer that, just focus on your plan.”

Yosuke smiles, “You’re right! Okay, time to get started!” Yosuke stands up straighter after finishing, wanting to seem more confident, while Yu runs a hand through his hair and enters The Pose.™

Fifteen minutes go by before Yu decides to ask “Hey, Yosuke.” His friend turns to him with a raised brow, “...What are we supposed to be doing right now?”

Yosuke smirks, “Just be patient, bro! When the ladies see that we’re two strapping young men with motorcycles, they’ll be begging to go out with us!”

Yu looks at him with skepticism, but shrugs and resigns himself to just standing there and looking pretty.

———

“It’s been three hours, Yosuke.” Yu says, irritation dripping from every word spoken.

Yosuke doesn’t say anything in response, he just grimaces. “Yo!” They hear a familiar voice call out, turning to see Kanji finally returning with two small bags in one hand. “Sorry to make you guys wait! I couldn’t decide which one to get…” He trails off as he looks at the two of them. He walks over to his bike and puts the bags in his basket, “No luck, huh?”

Yu rubs his temples, not only hoping to quell this dull headache, but also his frustration of standing the same place for so long. “I want to go home…”

Yosuke glares at him, but his disappointment shines through more than his anger. “Dude, don’t give up yet! I feel like somebody’s looking at us, so just wait a little longer. Maybe they’ll approach us.” He says hopefully, forcing a smile.

Kanji scratches the back of his neck, “Maybe this plan ain’t as solid as you thought it was, senpai.”

Yu looks down at the ground, “...Is it my fault?” When both of them look at him with raised brows, he explains. “I mean, my heart’s not really in this, you know. Not really into stuff like this.”

Yosuke scoffs, “You’re fine, bro. Your motorcycle looks cool, and you don’t look so bad yourself. Plus, I don’t think girls can tell that you’re not into something just by looking.”

Yu smirks and shrugs, “I think you’d be surprised.”

Kanji shakes his head, “That ain’t the problem. It’s those.” He says, pointing at their motorcycles, making Yosuke tilt his head and Yu bite his bottom lip while smirking. “You said every guy should have a motorcycle, but those’re scooters.” A response seemingly dies in Yosuke’s throat as Kanji continues, “Does it not matter what kind of motorcycle it is, as long as you got one?”

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “There’s always a gap between a man’s dream and cold, hard reality! If I had the money for a real motorcycle, I woulda done it!” Yosuke declares with a frown.

There’s a short silence, before Kanji feels invigorated. “Senpai, could you give me ten minutes?” Both older boys turn to him with questioning expressions, “I can’t keep quiet about you gettin’ shut out like this. I’ll avenge you, Senpai!”

Yu smirks, and Yosuke tilts his head. “I’m touched, but this isn’t a fight. What’re you gonna do to ‘avenge’ me? Hit on some girls?”

Kanji nods vigorously, “Hell yeah! What else would I do?”

Yosuke slumps his shoulders, “Man… we got motorbikes here and it didn’t work. There’s no way you could do better.” He turns to Yu with a defeated expression, “Right?”

Yu looks at him, then back to Kanji. “Yeah, if I was trying, I’d only need three minutes.”

They both look at him with wide eyes, “Dude, what?!” Yosuke asks incredulously, but a small part of him feels like he could do it, too.

Kanji feels a bit of a competition brewing, “Even instant ramen takes five minutes to make.” He turns to Yosuke, “Let’s make this a contest, I’ll show you clowns how a real man gets it done!”

“Calm down! Do you realize what you’re saying? This means that we’re the ones who have to approach the girls. That just sounds lame! And I doubt it’ll go well for us…” Yosuke responds, trying to defuse this so he doesn’t feel like he wasted anymore of his time.

Kanji looks Yosuke dead in the eyes, “Ya chicken?” He provokes with a face that is way too serious. When Yosuke waves a hand dismissively, Kanji snickers. “All we gotta do is ask ‘em to be our friend, and make ‘em say ‘yes’.” He snaps his fingers, “Nothin’ to it!”

Yosuke looks at Yu, who’s smirking at the two of them. “...You don’t mind waiting a bit longer?” Yu shakes his head, and Yosuke shrugs. “Well, guess there’s nothing to lose…” He says as he cracks his neck, “Watch me, partner. I’ll be drowning in it by the end of the day!”

Yu chuckles, “Best of luck, Yosuke.”

———

Yu cracks open a can of Dr. Salt NEO he just bought at a vending machine while waiting for Kanji and Yosuke to finish their contest. Despite him not really doing anything today, it’s been fun for him.

“Yo, Senpai.” Kanji calls out to him as he approaches, “Can we… talk for a sec?”

Yu quirks a brow, “Sure… but aren’t you worried about losing the contest?”

Kanji waves a hand dismissively, “Nah, this is more important.” He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck, “L-look, about what I said at Aiya-”

He’s interrupted by Yu putting a hand up and taking a sip of his drink, “If you’re about to apologize; don’t.” Kanji looks at him with wide eyes, “You weren’t exactly wrong.”

Kanji clears his throat again, “W-well, I’m glad, cuz I wasn’t apologizing for that anyway.” Yu hums inquisitively, “I wanted to apologize for soundin’ like such a dick when I was saying it. Y-you saved my life an’ shit, then I go and call you out, it wasn’t cool of me. So… sorry, Senpai.”

Yu blinks a few times, before shaking his head and ignoring that dull headache again. “Thanks Kanji. Felt refreshing to have someone on my ass for once.” Yu finishes with a smile.

Kanji pumps a fist, “Then I’ll be on your ass 24/7, Senpai!” He shouts with a bright smile.

“...”

Yu’s smile falls.

He stares at Kanji with a completely neutral expression.

Kanji tilts his head, wondering if he said someth- “WAIT SHIT NOT LIKE THAT!!!”

———

**6/16 Thursday**

***Chie POV***

Chie and Yukiko both stand aghast in the Junes grocery department because of what they just heard. Yu is the cause of it. Well, not him specifically, what he told them. After deciding to leave the shopping for the trip tomorrow up to the girls, since they were very adamant about wanting to cook, and Yosuke was also very on board because of Yukiko living at a renowned inn.

The girls still hadn’t decided what to cook, but after Yosuke left to do… something, Yu felt it was the right time to tell them about what he learned yesterday.

“Yosuke’s going after Hanako-san?!” Chie asks completely and utterly shocked, Yu nods, biting his bottom lip like he’s holding in laughter, but she’s confused as to why. “...I-I’ll be rooting for him?” She says, unsure of how to feel about this. She didn’t think that Hanako was Yosuke’s type, considering his last crush. But she’ll ignore appearances, she’s more confused that Yosuke would want someone who’s known for being so... stuck up and rude.

Yukiko nods dutifully, also still showing shock on her face. “I’ll h-help him in any way I can.” Both girls tilt their heads at Yu when he exhales loudly through his nose, “Is something funny, Yu-kun?”

Chie immediately looks at Yukiko with wide eyes, _‘Yu-kun’? When did they get that close…?_ She shakes her head, trying (and failing) to get rid of the feeling of jealousy, as Yu composes himself. “N-no, I’m just surprised at how serious you are about helping him.”

Chie clears her throat, “Well, Y-Yu…” She emphasizes his name, making Yukiko turn to her with wide eyes, and Chie turns away to hide her blush from saying his name like that with other people around, even though that was her intention. “...do you have any suggestions on what to cook?”

Yu looks really nervous all of a sudden, _Hmm?_ He brings a hand to his chin and his eyes seem to dart around the store, desperately searching for something.

Yukiko taps Chie on her shoulder, she turns to her to see her covering the side of her mouth with one hand so they aren’t overheard. “When did that start happening?” She asks, making Chie tilt her head. “You called him ‘Yu’! This is just like before!” She says in an excited whisper.

 _Why was I getting all jealous? Yukiko’s never anything but supportive of me…_ Chie scratches her cheek, whispering back “I slipped up a few times when I was giving him his jacket back, so he just said to call him that.” She turns crimson when Yukiko gives her a smug grin. “W-well, when did you start calling him ‘Yu-kun’?!” Chie tries to turn the tables.

Yukiko blushes slightly, “W-well…” Before she can continue, Yu coughs nervously into his arm. 

“G-grilled cheese…?” Yu says as he turns back to them with an uncertain and almost scared expression.

“Grilled cheese?” Chie says incredulously, “That’s too easy! We gotta cook somethin’ that’ll show off our skills!”

Yukiko brings a hand to her chin and taps a finger on her bottom lip as she thinks, “Like what though?”

Chie furrows her brow and begins to think, she briefly glances at Yu, who’s looking between them with beads of sweat rolling down his cheek. Her eyes move down to his scar, and her eyes go wide. _‘I wanted to learn how to make curry, since it’s my favorite food, and I asked my neighbor…’_ His voice from when he told her about his scar echoes in her head. 

“Let’s make curry.” She says, her tone filled with subtle determination to impress. _The best way to a guy’s heart is his stomach, right? Cooking can’t be that hard, right? This could be my one chance to get hi- huh?_

Yu’s looking at her with wide eyes, pupils small, like a scared animal. _What’s going on with him today?_ He coughs, and starts speaking quietly “C-curry’s a bit complica-”

“Let’s do it.” Yukiko says, looking at Chie with a small, but fierce smile. She feels like she hears Yu heave a deep, shuddering sigh, but she doesn’t care, she has to remember how to make curry right now.

They walk over to some ingredients, “So uhh… what do you put in curry again?” Chie asks her friend who has way more experience cooking than her, and then she realizes that she’s never tried Yukiko’s cooking. She’s only heard that Yu is taste testing her food, and that she gets a bit defensive whenever Chie asks about Yu’s opinion on her food.

Yukiko hums, “Carrots, potatoes, onions… mushrooms, green peppers, and… radishes?” _Radishes? Those are just like turnips… right?_

Yu coughs, “Y-you guys could just make something like ramen, I think that’d be-”

Yukiko picks up a pepper and appraises it, “I don’t think that’d be enough for you and Yosuke-kun, though. Curry would definitely be better for you. Plus, it seems like Chie is really into cooking this.”

Chie blushes a bit, “I-I’m not that into it. I just wanna cook something a little more classy, is all.” Yukiko looks at her skeptically, and Chie ignores her stare by looking at the various types of flour, and just picking one of them at random and tossing it in the cart.

Yu looks at the bag of flour, “This isn’t-”

He’s interrupted by Yukiko gleefully smiling as she puts chili peppers in the cart, “It’s not curry if it isn’t spicy.”

 _We should just get whatever seems good, right?_ She thinks to herself as she tosses in some kimchi, ignoring Yu’s flinching arm. She looks to Yukiko, “What about ground pepper?”

Yukiko walks over to where the pepper is, “There’s two kinds though, black and white. Which one should we get?”

 _I don’t know! Uhhh, wait… deflect!_ “I’m sure the Amagi family knows their stuff, just pick whatever you think is best!” Chie says with what she hopes is a confident smile.

Yukiko nods, “Here you go, Yu-kun.” She says as she puts both bags of salt in the cart. She turns away from Yu and something catches her eye. “We need special ingredients…” She says as she walks over to the fish section.

“F-fish?” Chie hears Yu say incredulously.

“It’ll make the sauce pop!” Yukiko says with a blinding smile.

“And our stomachs…” Yu grumbles, but Chie doesn’t really process that. She’s too busy remembering something she heard on TV once. “W-what are you thinking of putting in, Satonaka?” Yu asks with a smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. _He looks like he’s seeing a ghost… So pale…_

Chie puts a hand on her hip, “I heard on TV once that you can put chocolate, coffee or yogurt in curry… I think.”

Yu heaves a sigh of relief and smiles a genuine smile, a bit of color returns to him. “Yeah, coffee and yogurt are actually-”

Chie snaps her fingers, “Mint chocolate! I love that stuff!” She says as she starts walking away to grab the chocolate, just barely seeing all the regained color leave Yu’s face.

 _I don’t really like coffee too much though… maybe mocha? Yeah… that should work._ She thinks to herself as she walks back to the cart with both items in hand, _But he likes coffee… maybe I should only pick ingredients with him in mind?_

“Oh, mocha, huh? I think that’ll mix in nicely with the chocolate you got.” Yukiko says as she puts a fish she doesn’t recognize into the cart.

“Y-yup! My thoughts exactly!” Chie lies, and Yukiko nods approvingly.

Yu takes a deep breath, and takes just as long exhaling it. “Is that everything, ladies?” He asks with a completely neutral face, like the face of someone who’s accepted their fate. Though his voice seems almost… pleading?

They both nod, and Yu solemnly puts his hands on the cart, pushing it to the cash register. _I’m actually pretty excited. This’ll be my first time cooking somethin’ like this, and I’m doing it with my best friend! For the guy I like! I’m gonna give this my all!_

———

“Yo!” Yosuke calls out to the three of them, he’s holding a plastic bag in one of his hands and his phone in the other. “You guys get all the ingredients for whatever you’re makin’ tomorrow?”

Yukiko and Chie both nod while Yu takes another deep breath, “Yup! Get ready for the best meal of your life!”

Yosuke beams, “I’m not expecting too much from you, Chie. But Yukiko is the daughter of a famous inn! I bet you’re crazy good at cooking!” _This guy!_

Chie bristles, “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?!” She says as she stomps towards him, to which he moves the plastic bag behind his back, _Hmm?_

Yu gestures to the bag Yosuke’s holding by pointing at him, “What’s that?”

Yosuke clears his throat, and his eyes glint weirdly. “My mom told me to get some more face towels for the house.” He says as he holds up his phone. “Welp, I should probably get these back to her as soon as possible. See you guys tomorrow!” He shouts as he runs off.

“...I didn’t get to warn him…” Yu says quietly, confusing both of the girls.

Yukiko walks over to Yu and takes some of the bags off his arms and puts them onto her own, “I’ll store these for tomorrow. Would you mind helping me for a bit, Chie?” She thinks she hears Yu click his tongue.

“Oh, sure.” Chie says as she takes the rest of the bags off of Yu. “See you tomorrow, Yu!” She says with a bright, toothy grin.

_Just you wait, Yu. With Yukiko helping me, we’re gonna blow your mind!_

She smiles to herself.

_My cooking is gonna knock you dead!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The camping trip is a tad long, huh? On the upside, this means that chapter 20 will be the big game. How exciting!
> 
> I hope you're ready for some angst, some fluff and some food poisoning in the next chapter!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	19. These Cooking Shows are really...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chie sees what reward her hard effort has in store.
> 
> Yu has a frank conversation.
> 
> The team 'enjoys' a dip in the riverbank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3800 hits! Hot damn!

**6/17 Friday**

_I didn’t mean it literally!_ Chie screams internally as Yosuke remains collapsed on the table.

Yu looks down at the plate full of what should’ve been curry in front of him, horrified by the lack of smell. He looks at his friend splayed across the table, still convulsing. 

Yukiko laughs awkwardly, “W-wow! He loves it so much he can’t even control his body!” She lies with a smile that’s a tad too bright.

Yu drags his spoon around the edge of his plate, seemingly unable to bring himself to even touch it. _I-it can’t be that bad, right?_ “A-aren’t you gonna take a bite, Yu?” Chie asks, scratching her cheek.

Yu flinches when he’s addressed, and he looks over at the two girls with an incredibly forced smile, it hurts their jaws just seeing him try so hard. “Of course I am.” He says shakily.

There’s a slam on the table, and suddenly Yosuke is back in the world of the living. He grabs Yu’s shoulder and whispers something, which makes Yu’s eyes widen in horror. Then he turns around with fire in his eyes, “What the hell is this?!” He yells, pointing to his own plate of curry.

Chie and Yukiko look at each other, before smiling sheepishly and simultaneously speaking, “Curry…?”

“Like hell!” Yosuke shouts, “That was poison! Now I get why he told me I could have his plate, too!”

“...Don’t pull me into this like that.” Yu quietly says, still staring at the plate in front of him.

Yosuke seems to ignore him, “Curry isn’t supposed to taste like that! It’s supposed to be either really spicy or pretty mild.” He points to the plate again, “This just stinks!” He spits something grey out of his mouth, _Gross…_ “And it’s gritty too! ...It even has squishy bits too… ugh.”

 _...That could be a good thing…?_ Chie shrugs her shoulders, “Well, it just didn’t mix too well…” She gives an awkward smile, “B-but at least it offers a wide variety of textures.”

Yosuke scoffs, “As if that’s a good thing! It’s nauseating!”

 _It can’t be that bad, no way._ Chie finds herself getting a bit angry at his repeated beratement of their food. “That’s just **your** opinion!” She emphasizes by pointing at him, then she turns her eyes expectantly to Yu. As do Yukiko and Yosuke.

“I’m telling you as a friend, don’t do it. I wouldn’t even…” Yosuke trails off, gripping his stomach as he takes his seat again.

Yu stares into hers and Yukiko’s eyes pleadingly, but they don’t react. He, at a snail’s pace, takes a spoonful of the curry, and lifts it behind his head, acting like he’s eating it. He then realizes that both of them are still staring at him, now with slight glares that he would try to lie to make them happy. He sighs, screwing his eyes shut, and unceremoniously shoves the spoon into his mouth.

He makes a face the second he pulls the spoon out, _He doesn’t look happy, but he doesn’t look disgusted either. I’ll take it as a wi-_ Her thoughts are interrupted when there’s a crunching noise when he moves his jaw. _C-crunch?_ Yu gingerly reaches for a napkin, wiping his mouth, then he runs over to the trash can, almost throwing himself into it.

“See!?” Yosuke shouts as he points at Yu, who’s now probably vomiting into the trash can, she can’t really tell from here.

Yukiko coughs, “N-now hang on. M-maybe he likes it so much that he… he’s even telling the trash can about it!” Yukiko says with a forced smile.

“Like hell. What the hell did you put in there that could’ve been crunchy?!” Yosuke asks with a scowl.

Chie and Yukiko look at each other with questioning gazes, _W-well, it didn’t mix well, so it could’ve been anything… But maybe…_ Chie’s eyes widen, _Did… did we accidentally leave a fish bone in it...?_ It seems like Yukiko might have come to the same conclusion, and both of them hang their heads in shame.

Yu walks back over, chugging a water bottle and eating a stick of mint gum. “...I don’t think I can ever look at curry again without having flashbacks to this moment.” He shivers, “Mint doesn’t go well with the aftertaste, surprisingly.” He states sarcastically.

“...We’re sorry.” Chie says sadly.

“Sorry…” Yukiko apologizes as well, before looking to her right at something.

Yosuke sighs loudly, “What’re we gonna do for food? Our group’s the only one without any…” He looks at the pot that the concoction still rests in, “I mean, if it was even slightly edible, that’d be one thing. But I’m not even gonna consider eating more of that… Mystery Food X.”

Chie follows Yukiko’s gaze as soon as she smells something pleasant, seeing Hanako eating from a massive plate of curry, practically begging to be eaten with a group. _It smells sooooo good…_

Yukiko pokes Yosuke in his side, making him jump. “Go and ask Hanako-san if she can share with us, this is a good chance for you!” She says with a conspiratory smile. _Oh right!_

Chie pokes his other side, “Yeah, c’mon Yosuke! Now’s your chance!”

Yu turns away and starts laughing at something, _Hmm?_

Yosuke looks at both the girls with confusion, “What are you guys talking about?” He looks at Hanako, grimacing. “...Then again, she does owe me for what happened…” _Huh? Something happened between them already?_

Yu uncharacteristically snorts at what Yosuke just said, making Yosuke glare at him. While she’s confused as to why, she has more interesting thoughts on that matter. _That snort was adorable, I need to hear more of that._ She thinks to herself, determined to try and make that happen.

Yosuke clears his throat, “H-hey uh, Hanako-san? Would you be willing to share some of your curry with us?” When he doesn’t get a response right away, he continues. “O-our chefs kinda screwed up, and now we got nothing to eat.” _He just had to get another jab in there, huh?_ “I-I figured that with what happened in Okina City, you could-”

“No way. I’m on a diet right now, so this has to last me.” _She has enough to feed all of us, and then some… How could Yosuke fall for someone so selfish?_ Chie thinks bitterly.

The group starts walking over to where other students went to set up their tents after finishing their meals, “We’re gonna starve… I wonder if there’s any way we can get stuff delivered up here.” Yosuke says with a deep frown.

Yukiko sighs, wearing a frown of her own. “But our phones don’t get any service up here…”

Chie sighs as well, “And dinner time's almost over…”

Yu stops walking with them, and suddenly, his face becomes serious, like when he puts on his glasses in the other world. “I have an idea.” He looks at Yosuke, “Cover for me, I’ll be back in fifteen.”

Yosuke puts a hand up, “W-wait, just what are you thinking of doing, partner?” He asks, worried by the seriousness in Yu’s voice.

Yu looks over in the direction of where they were picking up trash earlier in the day, “You guys remember that clearing we found before?” All of them nod, “Meet me there, and bring Kanji.” _H-he’s saying all this like it’s a mission or something…_ Yu looks at all of them with a confident grin that makes her face heat up, “I’ll save us from starvation.” He quietly declares as he runs off into the woods.

Yosuke clicks his tongue, “Shit… what am I supposed to say to King Moron when he asks where he is?” He asks as he starts walking towards the men’s tents.

Chie smirks, “You’ll figure it out, Yosuke. You’re his right hand man!” Chie says as she and Yukiko begin walking to the women’s tents.

A few minutes pass, and a few of the teachers begin taking attendance. _I wonder what Yu’s got planned… He looked so serious about getting us food._ Chie frowns as she looks at the ground beneath her. _And he only needs to get us food in the first place because our cooking was so bad… I picked his favorite food too, I probably ruined curry for him forever…_ She kicks a few pebbles that were under her foot, _My one chance to impress him and I screwed it up, maybe I should ju-_

She’s pulled out of her thoughts by Yukiko nudging her shoulder, “It’s time to head to that clearing, so wipe that frown off your face. I have a good feeling about today.” She says with a gentle smile as she starts walking.

Chie looks around at the other girls, all of them splitting up to do whatever for the remainder of their free time before curfew. Chie sighs as she finally processes what Yukiko said, “...Even after we botched dinner?”

Yukiko turns to Chie with furrowed brows, “I know you were looking forward to impressing Yu-kun, but I’m sure he doesn’t care that we aren’t the best cooks.” Chie blushes at how easily and how loudly her friend said that first part. Yukiko smiles, “I think he likes just spending time with you, Chie. There’s a reason why he’s hung out with you more than anyone else since he’s come here.” Chie thinks Yukiko’s smile becomes kind of sad as she turns her gaze ahead, she turns back to her, and just as quickly as the sadness came to Yukiko’s face, it’s gone. “I’m starting to think you should just be direct with him.”

Chie sighs again, “But I already-” Chie’s eyes widen and her face burns crimson as she realizes she was about to let it slip that she kissed him. She vigorously shakes her head, as if to somehow retract the words before they’re heard.

The damage was done, as Yukiko’s eyes are as wide as they possibly could be. “You already did something?!” She partially shouts, her surprise making it difficult to control the volume of her voice.

“They shared a drink at Aiya, I thought you were already together.” A voice says flatly from behind them, making both of them yelp and turn to the source quickly. Aika Nakamura walks at a brisk pace, carrying five plastic containers with covers on top of them. _Ohhhhh that smells so good… WAIT A SECOND!_

Chie turns to Yukiko and frantically waves her hands, unable to handle how hot she’s suddenly become. “IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, I STARTED C-CHOKING AND HE GAVE ME HIS WATER SO I WOULDN’T DIE!” She says a little too quickly and a little too loudly. She turns back to Aika, still unable to control her voice. “H-HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!”

Aika shrugs, expertly keeping all the containers steady. “My family owns the place, heard it from my older sister after she served you guys on your date.” She says stoically, her pace allowing her to easily move past them as the both of them slow to a halt.

“IT-IT WASN’T A DATE! WE WERE J-JUST HUNGRY AFTER TRAINING! I LIKE HIM BUT WE’RE NOT LIKE THAT!” Chie yells after Aika, who simply shrugs in response, not slowing her gait at all.

She hears the sound of Yukiko’s engine starting up, then, of course, she bursts into a laughing fit at Chie’s distress. “M-My, Chie…” Yukiko starts in between laughs, “An... an indirect kiss! I-I had… I had no idea you were so… so bold!” Chie somehow burns even hotter as her friend continues to laugh, remembering how embarrassing the indirect kiss was, then remembering that she has now actually kissed him directly as well, further adding to her increasing temperature.

“C-cut it out… If this goes on I might pass out from heat stroke…” Chie pleads, her voice small.

After a few more seconds, Yukiko composes herself. “Sorry, but that’s just… snrk… so funny.” She says, starting to laugh again as she begins walking. _Geez…_

“Enjoy your food.” Aika says as she jogs past them in the opposite direction. _Huh? How did she know we’re supposed to be eating?_ It seems like Yukiko has the same question, but Aika’s already pretty far from them.

Chie’s feeling awkward from having that revealed, and Yukiko probably feels like she’s teased her enough, so neither of them say much as they continue their walk to the clearing. Finally reaching it, seeing that Yu’s the only one here.

He gives them a singular wave, “Yo.” He says cooly. _‘Yo’? That’s… a bit out of character for him…_ He gestures to two of the plastic containers, “They’re beef bowls, dig in. I got them from Aiya.” He sees their questioning faces, and he nods, holding up his phone. “I ran off to get some good reception. I didn’t, but it was just good enough to let me place an order.” He brings a hand to his chin, “I don’t know how Aika got the food from the restaurant, though… She came on this trip with us…” He trails off.

“Hey senpai!” They hear Kanji call out to them, Yosuke in tow. Kanji looks down at the food, “Wow… you weren’t kidding when you said he was getting you real food.” Kanji says as he turns to Yosuke. _...Of course he’d tell Kanji._

Yosuke beams, a bit out of breath. “I knew… Partner wouldn’t let me down after that.” He catches his breath, before tilting his head. “But… how’d you get this stuff?”

Yu reiterates what he told the girls, and both boys nod their heads slowly. “...Still confused how she got it, though…” He says, mostly to himself. _A mystery for the ages._

“So… you ran off, after puking your guts out, to get a bit closer to civilization, runnin’ down the mountain.” Yu nods when Kanji pauses, “Then, with the goal of getting some good reception for your phone, you pulled out your phone and called Aiya, managed to get through and placed your order.” Yu nods again, “Then you ran back over here, all in the span of fifteen minutes, and Aika showed up with the food you had just ordered.”

Yu nods, “Yeah, that about covers it.” _It sounds kinda… impossible?_

Kanji makes a face, and Yosuke looks at him with a raised brow. “What’s up?”

Kanji looks at the group with uncertainty, “I dunno really, just… Somethin’ about the phrase ‘getting some good reception’ irks me…” _Huh… yeah, me too._ Chie looks around to see everyone else slowly nodding in agreeance. “Welp, I actually had food to eat, but I’m still kinda hungry, so let’s dig in!” He says with a big smile as he grabs one of the containers.

———

***Yu POV***

Yu holds his glare at Yosuke, who finally falls under the pressure of it. “Okay, okay. What?” He asks, and when Yu jerks his head towards the exit of their tent, he shakes his head. “Dude, King Moron’s already pissed at me for covering for you, I don’t wanna give him more ammo.”

Yu shakes his head, “Still uncool, you know Kanji’s still sensitive about that shit.” He says, angry that Yosuke provoked Kanji into running over to the girls’ tent. Then, a question pops into his head. “Wait… what exactly did you say to cover for me?”

Yosuke shrugs and grins, “I told him you ran off with a girl, and that I let you.” _...In what fucking way is that a good thing to say to the biggest hard ass of a teacher?_

Yu’s about to rip into him, when there’s a rustling outside their tent. They both lock eyes, then look towards the zipper. “Psst! Hey!” A familiar hushed voice whispers harshly into the tent, but it’s not Kanji’s voice, it’s a bit too much like Yukiko’s to be his.

Both their eyes widen, before Yosuke clicks his tongue. “What the hell are you doing here?! This is the guys’ side!” He whispers harshly back.

“Let us in!” Chie’s voice whispers in.

Yu decides to chime in, “Just go back to your tent before King Moron sees you, he’s already pissed at us, it’ll just get worse if-”

“We can’t!” Chie says urgently, interrupting him. Him and Yosuke both lock eyes, visibly confused by her statement.

At the sound of King Moron’s voice in the distance, Yu immediately opens the tent, pulling the both of them inside, making them yelp. “Shh.” He says, with a finger on his lips. He turns to Yosuke, “Kill the light.” Yosuke nods, and turns off the lantern, leaving the four of them in the dark.

Footsteps approach, and a slurred voice speaks up. “Nyeh... Narukami, you in there?”

“Yup.” Yu says immediately.

He hears King Moron laugh, “Your… * **burp** * reputation as a manwhore precedes you.” Yu sighs, and he hears his friends snicker a bit. “Is Hanamura asleep?”

Yosuke jumps at hearing his name, “Y-yessir! Fast asleep, sir!” He responds loudly.

“No, clearly you’re not!” King Moron yells back, before mumbling to himself and walking away.

Yu puts up his hand to tell everyone to stay quiet for a bit longer, but he bumps into something… soft. “Shit, sorry. Stay quiet for a bit longer.” _Wait… w-what did I just touch?_ A few more seconds pass, “Alright, turn the light back on, but keep it low.” As he says that, the light returns to the tent, almost romantic with how dim it is. He looks at both Yukiko and Chie’s faces to see if he accidentally touched one of them, but neither of them seem perturbed. He looks to where he pushed his hand out towards, and sees Kanji’s sleeping bag. He lets out a sigh of relief, making all of them quirk an eyebrow at him.

“Sooo, anyway.” Yosuke says, turning back to the two girls as Yu moves around so they’re all facing each other. “Why can’t you guys go back to your tent?”

They both avert their gazes, making Yu and Yosuke lock eyes and narrow theirs at the girls. “Well… It’s Kanji-kun...” Yukiko says cryptically. Chie and Yukiko lock eyes for a second, just like Yu and Yosuke did, then face the boys again. “He’s out cold…” Yukiko finishes.

 _…‘Out cold’?_ Chie nods with fervor, “Y-yeah! He just burst into our tent and… passed out all of a sudden!” She shakily explains. “I don’t… I don’t really know what happened! R-right, Yukiko?”

Yukiko seems to be surprised by the question, “Huh? Oh, y-yeah.” _For some reason, I’m not convinced that they’re telling the truth._ Yu smirks to himself.

Chie clears her throat before continuing, “A-and there’s no way we could sleep with him lying there, and if we woke him up, he probably would’ve made a fuss. That’s why we left him there.”

Yosuke narrows his eyes, “That doesn’t make any sense. He busted into your tent, then just fainted?” Yosuke smirks mischievously, “Nah, I bet you just came over here to-”

“HANAMURA! SHUT UP!” King Moron shouts from a distance, scaring all four of them.

An awkward silence sets in, and Yu decides to be the one to break it. “So… You guys gonna head back to your tent at some point, or…?”

Both girls glare at him, “We can’t leave now, stupid. We’ll sneak out in the morning before everyone wakes up tomorrow, that good enough for you?” Chie says, shifting her gaze to Yosuke.

He scoots away slightly, “What’re you so pissed about?”

She points an accusatory finger at both of them, “You better not try anything funny while we’re asleep, got it?”

Yosuke sighs, “First dinner, now this? You owe us big time…” He says with a frown, meanwhile Yu is setting up a mini wall in the middle of the tent, separating him and Yosuke from Yukiko and Chie, earning an approving nod from both girls.

———

Yu thinks he’s been trying to sleep for about two hours now, but he just can’t seem to fall asleep. Whether it’s from him worrying about what really happened to Kanji; whether it’s from what he heard shouted in the woods earlier today, confirming something for him that he only had strong arguments for, leaving little room for any other possibility now. Or whether it’s from the large rock that is jabbing into his side, _Fuck this tent._ Yu thinks to himself as he sits up.

He tries to make out anything in the dark of the tent, just barely being able to see outlines. He knows Yosuke is asleep, due to his soft breathing. He assumes that Yukiko and Chie are asleep as well, happy that they feel safe enough to fall asleep in his and Yosuke’s presence. However, while that makes him happy, it doesn’t help him fall asleep, so he starts ever so carefully wiggling his way over to the tent’s zipper.

Suddenly, the wind is knocked out of him as something hits him in the stomach. Hard. He hears rustling on the girls’ side, “Chie… stop kicking in your sleep…” He hears Yukiko say groggily, followed by incoherent mumbling from Chie. _...If I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d say that that’s pretty cute…_

After finally catching his breath, he slowly opens the zipper and steps outside into the night. He decides to walk over to a nearby tree and rest against it, a bit of a distance away from all the tents. The teachers should be asleep by now, and so should all of the students, that’s why he’s terrified when he hears footsteps approaching him.

 _Maybe if I just hold my breath and move around the tree, they won’t spot me._ Yu thinks to himself as he starts holding his breath. The footsteps approach from his left, so he moves to the right.

The footsteps stop, and Yu’s heartbeat quickens.

“I know you’re there, Yu.” A familiar voice speaks quietly, a bit of grogginess in their voice seeps through.

Yu’s eyes widen, and he steps out from behind the tree. “...Daisuke?” He asks, confusion evident in his voice. “What are you doing up?”

Daisuke laughs softly, “I could ask you the same question.” He yawns a bit loudly, covering his mouth with his sleeve. “...But I have a guess, in your case.” He says cryptically, making Yu tilt his head. “Guilt.” He says bluntly.

Yu’s eyes go wide, “...Pardon?”

Daisuke scratches the back of his head, “Guess you were in a bit of a daze when you were leaving, because you didn’t see me walking in.” Yu’s still confused, “Then again, you weren’t the only one. Hanamura and Tatsumi didn’t notice me either.” Yu blanches, finally realizing what Daisuke’s talking about. “Seriously, if they’re gonna talk about stuff like that, they should at least keep their voices down.” He says with a laugh that Yu can’t tell is humorless or not.

_You deserve this._

Yu clears his incredibly dry throat, “D-Daisuke, I-”

“Save it.” Daisuke interrupts, making Yu flinch slightly. “So… You told Satonaka about Kou’s little crush on her.” Yu opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. “Pretty fucked up, seeing as he told you that in confidence and all. But I guess love makes a guy do fucked up things.” _Love?!_

“I’m not in love with Satonaka.” Yu immediately says.

Daisuke sighs, “Fine, you only got a crush on her. Whatever. Still a really fucked up thing to do.” He says, letting a bit of anger seep into his tone. Yu opens his mouth to deny again, but Daisuke takes a step towards him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “And the game’s so close, too. You couldn’t’ve waited to see if we lost?”

Yu takes a deep breath, “I just…” He opens and closes his mouth a few times, struggling to find the right words.

“...Made a bad decision?” Daisuke finishes.

Yu shakes his head, “No that’s not what-” He’s interrupted by the hand on his shoulder squeezing a bit harder.

“But that’s what it was.” Daisuke says, letting go of Yu’s shoulder and letting out a deep sigh. “Look… I didn’t wait till you were alone to kick the shit out of you, though I think I’d be perfectly justified.”

_Why shouldn’t he? You deserve it._

“Plus, I coulda’ done it when you ran off to make a call or whatever, but I wanted to do this instead.” He takes a deep breath, and Yu braces himself for the worst. “...I want you to go for it.”

...Did he hear that right? Yu looks at him dumbly, “...What?”

Daisuke clicks his tongue, “Look, Kou’s had a crush on her since middle school, and he’s never done anything about it. He’s even made the exact same declaration of ‘I’ll ask her out if we win this game’ like, seven times.” He takes another deep breath before continuing, “And… it doesn’t take a genius to see that she’s got no interest in him. From the few convos they’ve had, both from what I’ve seen and heard, she ain’t into him. Barely even reacted when Kou clumsily flirted with her, too.” He chuckles to himself.

Yu wrings his hands together, “It’s not like she reacts any differently with me.”

Daisuke scoffs, “Don’t even try and sell me on that. Not only have I seen her react differently with my own two eyes, but there’s rumors that she’s the only girl you give the time of day.” Daisuke shakes his head, “Whatever, look. With this crush, whenever he finally gets up the courage to do it, he’s gonna get crushed, and humiliated. I’ve been through something like that, and I don’t want him to go through that shit, too.”

Yu quirks a brow, “You’ve been-”

“Let me finish.” Daisuke interrupts, before cracking one of his fingers. “...A part of me thinks he’s looking for a reason not to go through with it. I think that’s why he asked you what you thought about asking her out when he first told you about it, because I’m pretty sure he knows the rumors too. That Ebihara chick won’t stop talking about ‘em…” He trails off, shaking his head. “So I want you to be his reason, because I think he wants you to be his reason, too. ‘How am I supposed to compete with the Yasogami Heartthrob?’” Daisuke laughs at his own terrible impression of his friend.

_This isn’t how this should be going._

“However, even though I’m in your corner on this...” Daisuke says, as he cracks the rest of his fingers, then his knuckles. “As Kou’s best friend, I think it’s only fair that I deck you for telling the chick he likes about his crush on her.”

_There it is. Repentance._

He doesn’t even see it coming, as a sharp pain rocks his head. His fist connected right into the right side of his jaw, making him lean up against the tree for support after bumping into it. “Now I feel a lot better, see you for the game.” Daisuke says as he abruptly starts walking away.

Yu slides down against the tree, somehow the bark stabbing into him is more bearable than the rock in his tent, even with his new injury. But sleep still doesn’t come to him, the thoughts in his head are too much for him, first, confirmation that she does actually like him, now this. His vision grows hazy as his head starts to throb with a familiar headache, the pain growing to a peak, then ceasing when he passes out.

**_Yet another divergence?_ **

———

**6/18 Saturday**

***None***

“WOO YEAH! FREE DAY!” Yosuke shouts, in too good of a mood to care why Yu’s got a fairly large bandage on his cheek. He looks around at the riverbank, then turns back to his friends. “Looks like we’re the only ones here!” He says with his winning smile as he adjusts the small knapsack on his shoulder. Kanji looks at the ground with a frown, “What’s up?” Yosuke asks him.

“Nothin’, it’s just… I thought I got pissed and ran out of the tent last night… but when I woke up, I was back with you guys… Was it a dream…?” He asks, confusion and pain written all over his face.

Chie nods, “It-it was a dream. Must’ve been a dream.” Yukiko nods as well, while Yu and Yosuke tilt their heads. Kanji just nods slowly, seemingly not believing it fully, but not having any reason not to.

Yosuke turns to look at the girls, “All right then, let’s get swimming!”

Kanji puts a hand up, “Pass. I’m all stiff for some reason…”

Yosuke shrugs, but keeps his expectant gaze on the girls. “What’re you lookin’ at us for?” Chie asks once she gets annoyed by him staring, “If you guys wanna swim, go ahead.”

Yosuke nods, “You know, you two still owe us.” He says immediately.

Chie and Yukiko both pale slightly, “Huh? Woahwoahwoahwoahwoah, we’re not going in there.” Chie says, glancing at Yu, who’s looking at all of his friends with a quirked brow. She briefly notices the bandage on his face, making a mental note to ask about that once she gets out of this. “I mean, we do owe you guys, but…” Chie snaps her fingers, “Oh yeah! We don’t have swimsuits with us! Man, of all the luck!”

Yukiko nods feverishly, “Y-yeah, it really is unfortunate…” She says with a small smile, happy that Chie managed to get the two of them out of this predicament.

Yosuke narrows his eyes and clicks his tongue, “Oh, I see how it is. We put up with your dinner, we save you from King Moron, and you won’t even have some fun with us in the river.” He says, his voice filled with just the right amount of contempt.

Yu turns to Yosuke, “What are you-”

He’s interrupted by Chie flailing her hands a bit, “N-no, it’s really too bad. We’d have no problem jumping in with you guys if we just had some swimsuits.” She finishes with a forced laugh.

Yosuke reaches into the knapsack on his back, and pulls out two two-piece swimsuits. One is red and white with a skirt on the bottom piece, and the other is a yellow top with blue bottoms that have a yellow ribbon wrapped around the hem. “Ta-da! I gotcha covered!” At everyone’s dumbfounded faces, he continues. “They’re Junes-brand originals, from our new summer line of swimwear that just came in last week.” He turns to Yu, “You remember Azusagawa-san? She helped me pick these out!”

Chie frowns and shakes her head, “Dude…” She says disappointedly.

Yukiko closes her eyes and puts an index finger to her forehead, “Did you have those the whole time?”

Yosuke ignores the question, “C’mon, let’s all go swimming!”

Chie turns to Yukiko with pleading eyes, “What should we do, Yukiko?”

“‘We’d have no problem jumping in with you guys if we just had some swimsuits.’” Yosuke quotes in a horrible impression of Chie, prompting her to groan. “You know… we were really looking forward to that curry.” He says, which makes Yukiko’s frown deepen as she sighs. “I wonder what woulda happened to you guys if we didn’t help you last night…”

Chie stomps her foot, and snatches the yellow swimsuit out of his hands. “Enough with the guilt tripping, geez.” She says as she starts walking away, prompting Yukiko to take the other one and follow her.

Yosuke turns to Yu with a bright smile, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” He holds up his hand for a high five.

Yu ignores it and walks behind a tree to change into the swimsuit Dojima gave him.

Kanji just sits down by the ridge and dangles his legs off the edge, cracking his aching neck.

“The water might do you some good.” Yu says to Kanji as he comes back, clad in only his swim trunks. Kanji turns around to face him, looking down briefly, then turning away with red on the tips of his ears. Yu chuckles softly, “Thanks, guess all the training’s been paying off.” He says as he enters the Pose.™

“I’ll say.” Yosuke says as he walks over, clad in his swim trunks as well, tossing the knapsack to the side. “We look damn good, partner.” He holds up his fist, to which Yu rolls his eyes with a smirk and bumps his fist. He looks over in the direction of the woods, “...How far did they go to get changed?”

“C’mon, let’s get in.” Chie says unenthusiastically as she and Yukiko approach. All three boys turn over to look at where the voice came from, Kanji even stands up.

“Woah… man.” Yosuke says with a dumb grin on his face, nodding slowly as he takes in the sight.

Kanji says nothing, just staring at the two of them with a crimson face.

Yu remains stoic, thankful that no one can hear his thoughts right now. But that doesn’t stop him from letting his eyes wander a bit.

Chie and Yukiko immediately cover themselves with their arms, “S-stop staring like that!” Chie hisses, glaring at the boys as her face starts turning pink.

Yukiko looks down at the ground, avoiding all eyes with a red face as well. “H-hey…”

“...Abs.” Yu unconsciously says, making everyone turn to him. Yosuke flashes him a blinding grin, Kanji and Yukiko both tilt their heads, and Chie turns from pink to blood red, feeling like steam could come out of her ears. Yu coughs when he notices where he was looking, and that everyone is looking at him. “You two look great.” He says as he looks away, ears feeling a bit hot.

“S-stop it.” Yukiko says, despite her words, her blush has deepened and she has a small smile on her face.

“W-where’d that come from?!” Chie yells, somehow feeling even hotter than before, and unable to stop a smile from coming to her face.

Yosuke ignores the blatant favoritism and just takes in the view, “Man… this almost makes up for having to eat that Mystery Food X last night.” Chie and Yukiko both glare at him, as he looks between Yu and Kanji. “C’mon, you guys gotta admit I picked some good suits. These girls might be childish on the inside, but I bet they’re gonna turn into some fine-lookin’ women before long!” He says with an innocent smile, unknowing of the menacing aura coming from the two women he’s talking about. “Dontcha’ think so?” He asks Yu.

Yu, unlike Yosuke, does notice their hatred-filled glares, so he decides to try and defuse the situation, not wanting to get hit again. “They already are.” He says with a confident smirk, hoping that worked.

“You guys crossed the line…” Chie says through gritted teeth, her malice now aimed at Yu as well.

Yukiko nods, a fire in her eyes, but freezing the boys in their places. “Definitely.” The two girls turn to each other and nod, before running over to Yu and Yosuke. Chie roundhouse kicks Yu straight in the gut, sending him flying into the bank below, while Yukiko uses the shock Chie created to knock Yosuke off balance and shove him into the bank as well.

Yu and Yosuke both burst out of the water, shivering. “O-oh god, it’s so cold! Y-you didn’t have to push us in!” Yosuke yells up at Chie and Yukiko, who are both staring smugly down at them.

“Who cares?! You were goin’ in anyway, weren’t you?” Chie bites back. Feeling a smidge bad that she pushed Yu in, but one look at Yosuke shivering is enough to make her forget that. “Sheesh... Ain’t they just the worst, Kanji-kun?” Kanji says nothing in response, not even reacting in any way. “Hey… you’ve been awful quiet. A-are your injuries from yesterday still…” She trails off when he turns towards them, noticing a trail of red liquid from his nose, dripping onto his white shirt.

“What?” Kanji asks, completely oblivious.

“Eww!” Yukiko shouts, before pushing Kanji in the same way she pushed Yosuke in.

As Kanji comes up from underneath the water, coughing and sneezing, Yosuke notices that, while shivering, Yu has a smile on his face. “W-what’re you in such a g-g-good mood for?” He asks, as he thinks he hears something from up the stream.

Yu turns to Yosuke and Kanji, the bandage on his cheek slipping off as he runs a wet hand through his hair, revealing a pretty nasty looking bruise. “...She has abs.” The image of her a few minutes ago flashes through his head, he was even kind’ve happy when she kicked him with those strong legs and thunderous thighs- Yu shakes his head, but he allows a blush to come to his freezing face, “I don’t think anything could ruin this day for-” 

There’s what sounds like retching from upstream, before Yukiko and Chie both burst out laughing. Yukiko looks down at the boys, “K-King Moron’s…” Yukiko says in between her laughter, and the boys are smart enough to put it together.

Kanji looks at both of them sadly, “Senpai…”

“Don’t.” Yosuke says, face twisted in agony.

Yu looks down into the water, “Now I’m not sure if this was a good day or not…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy oh boy, next chapter's gonna be a fun one.
> 
> The ships have been finalized for the P3 fic, and I'm quite satisfied with the ideas I've come up with for them. It's a bit of a ways off, but still.
> 
> P5 Strikers came out a few days ago, but I preordered it on Steam, so I started it last Thursday. In my opinion, I think it's better than Royal. While I love Royal's third semester, I have quite a few gripes with the changes they made to the base game to accommodate for it. P5S does what I wanted Royal to do, and more. And that's just talking about the story, the gameplay is amazing, especially as someone who's been playing the Warriors games since I was a kid. I'm looking forward to the (hopefully) many fanfics Strikers creates. (especially shumako pls im starving) I give Strikers a 9/10, big recommend.
> 
> In other words, I hope you enjoyed, and have a good day!


	20. The Big Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu and Chie start a much-needed conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4100 hits and 100k words!
> 
> Jesus, I've wrote a lot...
> 
> Eh, I'll take a break at some point.

**6/19 Sunday**

***Yu POV***

These past few days, he’s barely gotten any sleep. He wants to believe his difficulty is coming from a recurring dream he has that he doesn’t remember when he wakes up, or from remembering Daisuke’s words, or from the image of Chie and Yukiko in swimsuits. One of them being more prominent in his head than the others.

But he knows the real reason. 

His lack of sleep is due to him dreading this day. He can deny it all he wants, a deep part of him, one that’s been striving to be heard more and more, has already accepted Daisuke’s words. To become ‘Kou’s reason.’ That deep part of him has already decided, no matter the results of this game today, to ask her out. 

That deep part of him has already accepted something that he’s been denying for what feels like a long time, and it’s also been growing increasingly difficult for the rest of him to keep ignoring this part.

That part of him has grown louder each time. He has his reasons to deny it, but the more he says them, the more he thinks about them… the longer he’s here. The more they start to sound flimsier and flimsier, like he’s just denying it for the sake of denying it.

He’s not some fucking tsundere.

He’s admitted it before, reluctantly and unhappily. He’s been called out for it. A few times now, actually.

That part of him has already accepted it. The people around him have accepted it. Even Nanako has accepted it, and encouraged him. 

He doesn’t know when it started. It could’ve been during class, the first time they went to Junes, the first time they went into the TV, the first time they trained, or when they saved her from her shadow.

The rest of him denies it, because he **has** to. He can’t feel like this. He has before, and all it’s given him is heartache.

But that part of him is loud, it’s voice is louder than his own. And it speaks the words that have been keeping him awake through these long nights.

“Yu Narukami likes Chie Satonaka.”

“...Are-” Startled by the sound of a gruff voice behind him, Yu yelps, coughing as he turns around, seeing his uncle staring at him with narrowed eyes. “Are you talking to yourself?” Yu tilts his head, to which Dojima lets out a soft chuckle. “Saying you like someone in the third person is a pretty strange mantra.”

 _...I really said that out loud…_ Yu averts his gaze as he feels his face become hot and coughs into his sleeve. “Y-you’re home early, uncle.”

Dojima laughs again, before composing himself. “I’m just stopping by, forgot some paperwork here from last night.” He looks Yu up and down, noticing the bag he’s carrying. “Going somewhere?”

Yu readjusts the bag on his shoulder, and smirks with faux happiness. “I got a basketball game tomorrow, so I’m preparing some clean clothes after the game.”

“Oh yeah?” Dojima asks with wide eyes, “Well... hope you win. And try not to get punched again.” He says with the awkwardness and bluntness that Yu’s come to know and enjoy. He begins leaving Yu’s room, before putting his hand on the door frame and turning around. “...So, the Satonaka girl, huh?” He asks with a soft smile.

Yu’s about to stammer out a denial, but that voice in him starts getting to him. “...Yeah.” He says with a pink dusting across his features, locking eyes with his uncle. “She’s uhh… She’s pretty great.”

Dojima laughs, “I bet.” He walks back into the room and reaches into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and taking out a handful of notes. “Here.” At Yu’s questioning expression, he shoves the bills into his hand. “For when you ask her out.” Yu’s eyes go wide, “No one under my roof is gonna go out on a date to a damn Wild Duck Burger.” He laughs as he finishes, before patting Yu’s shoulder and walking out of the room. _...Good thing that wasn’t a date, then._

Yu looks down at the ¥6500 in his hand, then at the switched off TV, remembering what day it is.

He picks up the remote, and presses the red button at the top. A catchy tune fills the room as a smirk comes to Yu’s face.

_...Guess she’ll be trying my cooking after all._

———

**6/20 Monday**

***Chie POV***

“So…” Chie turns her head towards Yukiko when she starts speaking, “...you’re really gonna go?” Yukiko asks.

Chie looks around at the intersection, then back to her friend. “I don’t really want to, but… I might as well get it over with.” _And I reeeally don’t want to…_

Yukiko raises her eyebrows in surprise, “That’s really mature of you, Chie.” She turns back to face the direction they’re walking, as she seems to get lost in thought. “...Hey, Chie.”

Chie hums inquisitively.

Yukiko looks like she’s about to ask something serious, getting this conflicted look on her face that Chie can’t read, before Yukiko shakes her head, and the face is gone. _I think I need to confirm something with her, before..._ “Are you sure it isn’t because you want to see Yu-kun in his jersey?” She asks with a mischievous smirk.

 _Wuh!_ Chie’s face starts heating up, “N-no way! Plus, I’ve already seen him shirtless so it’s not even that big of a... deal.” She starts trailing off near the end, her face getting even hotter as the image resurfaces in her head, as it’s been doing the past few days. She hears Yukiko start to snicker, and she snaps herself out of her reverie. “A-and, what kinda friend would I be if I didn’t go and see Yu and Yosuke play?”

Yukiko sighs, composing herself. “I think both of them would understand if you didn’t want to get asked out. Especially Yu-kun, I’m sure all of those love letters must get pretty irritating.” _...She says that like she doesn’t get asked out just as much as he does._

Chie shrugs and shakes her head, “Kou-kun’s a nice guy, I think it’d be pretty cruel if I just avoided him. Plus…” _...if by any chance, he doesn’t already know that I like him… I’m gonna tell him today, right after the game._ Her heart races just thinking about it.

Chie turns her head to see Yukiko looking at her expectantly, “Plus…?” She asks, curiosity evident on her face.

As Chie’s trying to come up with something to say, they pass by the floodplain, and in said floodplain, there’s someone familiar staring into the water. “Is that Yu?” Chie asks as she points at him.

Yukiko turns to look, and she’s just as surprised as Chie. “I think so. Yu-kun?” She calls out to him. He jumps at being greeted, and they both wave him over.

“What’s up?” He asks, as though he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be and not excessively late for a prior engagement.

Chie and Yukiko look at each other, both having the same question. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at the school already!” Chie asks, completely and utterly confused.

Yu seems surprised by the question, before his eyes widen. “Oh shit.” He brings a hand to his chin, before shrugging, letting out another uncharacteristic snort that makes Chie’s heart sing and smirking at them both. “Since I’m already late, you guys wanna walk together?” He asks quietly.

Chie notices that he didn’t answer her question, but she’s a little too happy to have heard him snort again, so Yukiko speaks first. “You’re a bit blasé about this… but sure, let’s go.”

They walk in silence for a bit, him and Yukiko on her left and right sides respectively. She feels like she’s getting looked at, and when she looks around, she sees Yu snap his head forward. _Hmm? Why was he looking at me?_

“So…” Yukiko starts, turning to look at Yu. “What were you doing at the floodplain?” Yu doesn’t even react to the question, still facing forward after Chie caught him looking at her. “...Yu-kun?” Yukiko attempts to get his attention, and he finally turns to face her, “I asked why you were at the floodplain.”

Yu, once again, seems surprised by the question. “Uhh… Just got lost in thought, I guess.” _I don’t believe that for a second…_ He mutters, before he snaps his fingers. “Dunno if Yosuke told you guys, but he’s giving up on Hanako.” He says, biting his bottom lip as he finishes. “Apparently, there’s rumors going around about her and Kanji.”

 _...They didn’t actually… do anything in our tent after we left, right?_ She turns to Yukiko with a horrified expression, only to see the same expression on her as well. Chie decides to change the topic, lest they reveal what really happened when Kanji came to their tent. “S-so, Yu. Your face healed pretty nicely.” Yu quirks a brow, but then nods. “I never asked, how’d that happen?”

Yu opens his mouth, but no words come out. He scratches the back of his neck, “I… fell?” They both stare at him with completely neutral faces, “...Not buying that, huh?” He runs a hand through his hair, before smirking. “I got decked.” They both quirk a brow, _He did that thing with his hair… is he lying again?_ “So, you guys excited to watch the game?”

He’s exclusively looking at Chie after asking that question, and it makes her remember what she has to do, and wants to do, so she blushes while getting a sinking feeling in her gut. “U-umm, n-not really. But I’ll ch-cheer you and Yosuke on.” She stammers out.

Yukiko nods, “Personally, I think basketball is terribly boring, but I’m looking forward to seeing you perform, Yu-kun.” She says with a gentle smile that makes that sinking feeling in Chie’s gut worsen.

Yu’s smirk grows into a grin, and he winks. “Hope I won’t disappoint, then.” He says with a lilt as he faces ahead. _...Why is he like this…_ Yu’s face drops, and he furrows his brows, turning back to the both of them. “Seriously, don’t get your hopes up. Not only have I barely practiced, but I’m not at all confident in this ‘natural athleticism’ everyone seems to think I have.”

Chie’s kind’ve stunned from the sudden shift in his demeanor. He went from practically oozing confidence and charm, to seriously trying to temper their expectations of him. Yukiko seems to have found it hilarious though, since she starts breaking into a laughing fit after a few seconds of silence. After letting out a deep sigh, they both smile at their friend laughing her ass off.

But then Chie sees Yu’s face change to a completely serious face as he starts looking around, “What’s up?” She asks as Yukiko’s still laughing, coming down, but still laughing.

Yu looks around again, before shaking his head. “I don’t know, I just…” He grabs his head, “...felt like we’ve…” _Oh no, is he having another one of those headaches?!_ He winces, before letting go of his head. “Déjà vu, I guess. Hey, isn’t that…” He points ahead, before his face shifts to one of disdain. “...Takeshi.” He says as though the name burns his tongue.

All he gives them is a wave, before walking down a different street, staring at Yukiko as he goes. _...Thought he’d try and hit on her. Maybe he was put off by Yu being here?_

“...Good.” Yu says with a smirk, as Yukiko finally composes herself. “Think I’m gonna jet ahead. Don’t wanna be **that** late, you know?” He says as he starts jogging ahead of them.

Chie takes a deep breath after a few seconds of him creating more distance between them. “...He really gets on my nerves sometimes.” She says under her breath.

Yukiko tilts her head, “Who? Yu-kun?” She asks, before pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Chie nods, “He knows the effect he has on people, and he just says whatever he wants most of the time. That confidence of his is really annoying…” She sees Yukiko nod out of the corner of her eye, _...Now or never._ “...I guess that’s one of the reasons why we both like him, though.” She says, still facing ahead.

She hears a very quiet hitch in Yukiko’s breathing, but doesn’t turn to look at her face. “...I guess it is.” Yukiko says, confirming Chie’s assumption. Yukiko stops walking and puts a hand on Chie’s shoulder to stop her as well. “I-I’ve wanted to tell you, Chie. But…” She trails off, failing to come up with the words she wants to say. “My... my feelings for Yu-kun are… baseless.”

Chie shakes her head, “I… I get it, Yu’s an amazing guy. To be honest, after spending so much time with him, I’d be surprised if you didn’t like him too.” Chie wants to be like those women she’s seen in movies and on TV, and declare that she’s willing to fight for his affection. _But how could I ever compete with Yukiko… She’s my best friend… and she’s so much more-_

“They’re baseless, Chie.” Yukiko says firmly, with a stern look on her face. Chie tilts her head, “...I don’t have any stories from the time I’ve spent alone with him. Just jokes and teases, him tasting my cooking, and telling him stories about you.” _Huh?!_

“W-what have you been telling him?!” Chie asks hushly, but Yukiko shakes her head.

“That’s not my point. My point is, while I find him attractive in a lot of ways, I don’t have the connection you two have.” Yukiko explains, letting a small smile come to her face. “His smirks and flirtations may be massive turn-ons, but I’m not going to indulge in them by going after him. He’s all yours, Chie.” _T-turn-ons? I wanna disagree with her, but…_ She feels her face heat up a bit.

She still feels that sinking feeling, she knows it’s mostly from dreading talking to Kou, but there’s still that bit from this conversation right now. “That feels unfair to you, though.” Chie locks eyes with Yukiko, “This is the first time in… ever, I think, that you’ve actually gotten a crush on somebody, Yukiko. You should have a shot with him, even if I-”

“I’m going to stop you there, Chie.” Yukiko says, still smiling. “How is it unfair, if I’m telling you that I have no intentions of pursuing him?” She removes the hand from her shoulder, and starts walking again. “I only have a crush on him. You have… an infatuation with him. I don’t wanna say it’s love because you’ve only known him for a little over two months now, so that’ll have to do.”

“L-love?!” Chie shouts, drawing the eyes of other students and people who are walking on the same street as them. She catches up to Yukiko, “I am not in love with him!” She says quickly and hushly.

Yukiko turns to her with a quirked brow, “I know, that’s why I said ‘an infatuation.’ It’s a bit early to have fallen in love.” She responds simply. _Geez…_

———

***Yu POV***

“Holy shit, partner. You’re so late.” Yosuke says as Yu walks into the locker room. Yu nods in response and begins changing into his jersey. “I think Kou said something about a pre-game ritual soon, so you’re just in time for whatever that is.” Yu nods again, “...You alright, dude?”

Yu realizes he hadn’t said a word the entire time he was changing, “Yeah, sorry. Got a lot on my mind.” He cracks his neck, before hearing some music coming from deeper in the room. “‘Pre-game ritual’, huh?” He looks at Yosuke, “Let’s go then, yeah?”

Yu and Yosuke walk towards the sound of the music, just as they increase the volume on the stereo they’re playing it from. “Yo!” Kou calls out to them as they walk closer, “I was getting kinda worried you weren’t gonna show, Yu!” _He wouldn’t be able to hear me right now, so…_ Yu shrugs and nods. Kou gets up and claps him on the back, “Well, get hyped up! We do this just before every game, it’s a tradition!” He yells as they increase the volume again.

Yu looks around seeing everyone start bobbing their heads and getting more and more into, save him and Yosuke. Even Daisuke’s getting into it. A thought pops into Yu’s head, _I feel like I’ve heard this song almost every day… why? I’ve definitely never heard this before…_ He looks to Yosuke, who’s tapping his foot, but stops when he notices Yu looking at him, and shrugs.

“Kinda catchy!” Yosuke shouts with a small smile.

Yu reluctantly nods, finding his own foot beginning to tap to the beat.

———

***Chie POV***

“Yo, Senpai!” Chie hears a familiar voice shout from inside the gym as they enter, looking around and seeing Kanji waving them over from the bleachers. She notices that he’s sitting by himself, and all the other people on the bleachers are sitting as far from him as possible. _That’s sad, if they just got to know him, they’d see he's actually a really nice guy._

“Hello, Kanji-kun.” Yukiko says as she takes a seat next to him, prompting Chie to sit down as well. “I’m quite surprised you came here, did you also come to see Yu-kun and Yosuke play?”

Kanji nods and smiles brightly, “Course I did!” He pumps his fist, and grabs his elbow with his other hand. “I’d do the same for you gals if you were in the same spot.”

Chie smiles, “Thanks, Kanji-kun.” She looks around the gym, _There’s a bigger crowd than I expected…_ “Sooo, have you seen Yu or Yosuke yet?” She asks as she turns back towards Kanji.

He shakes his head, “Nah, I only got here a few minutes ago. Had to help my Ma with some stuff.” Kanji narrows his eyes at her, “Why you askin’, Chie-senpai?” He asks, suspicion in his tone for some reason.

Chie tilts her head at his tone of voice, “Uhh, because Yu ran ahead of us, I just wanted to know if he got here.” She explains, and after she finishes, his face shifts back to normal and he nods. She sees Yukiko looking around the room confusedly, “What’s up, Yukiko?”

Yukiko looks around for a few more seconds, before turning to the both of them. “Do you two hear music?” Chie tries to listen for music, and after a few seconds, she does hear something, albeit very faintly. _What the…_

———

***Yu POV***

“STILL ACHING! STILL ACHING! OH BABY I NEED YOUR LOVE! LOOKING SO DIFFERENT, GLARING STREET LIGHT!” Every single one of the basketball players sing in unison… terribly. But they’re having a great time.

Yu and Yosuke especially. After initially being put off by the idea of singing along, they both are singing their hearts out. Well... Yosuke is, Yu is just lip syncing, since he’d kill his throat if he actually tried to sing along like the rest of them. _I needed this._

“HEARTBEAT, HEARTBEAT, IT KEEPS ON POUNDING! HEARTBREAK, HEARTBREAK, YOU TELL ME GOODBYE!” _...Seriously, why do I feel like I know this song?_ He thinks to himself as he continues to vibe with the group.

Eventually, the song comes to a close, and a silence sets in among the team. “Alright, it sounds like there’s a lot of people out there. Which means; more people to show off for. So let’s go out there and fuck shit up.” Daisuke says.

Yosuke tilts his head, “Daisuke, aren’t you on the soccer team? I feel like you have way less to lose than the rest of us.” He says with a quirked brow.

Daisuke just shrugs, and Kou throws an arm around his shoulder. “My guy here just hates losing in general, but I’m with him a hundred percent! Let’s win this!” _Kind’ve a lackluster pep talk…_

Daisuke looks at Yu, and the two lock eyes. Yu knows exactly what he’s saying, without any words being spoken. _‘If you fuck this up because of your little crush, I’ll actually beat the shit out of you.’_ Yu nods, and Daisuke nods back.

Yosuke nudges Yu’s shoulder as the rest of the team starts heading into the gym, “What was that about?” He asks, pointing at Daisuke’s back.

Yu shrugs and flashes him a grin, “Maybe you’ll see.” 

_...God, I hope not, though._

———

***None***

The game ends with a score of 83-75, with Yasogami High winning the match. And, as expectations were tempered, Yu and Yosuke performed well, but not stellar. Immediately after the match ends, a bunch of people swarm Yu, Daisuke and Kou. Yu manages to divert most of the attention to the other two, and even some to Yosuke. He spies Chie, Yukiko and Kanji walking over as well, so he decides to make his exit.

Watching the game had proved to be enjoyable and, for Chie and Yukiko, seeing Yu in his jersey was a nice bonus for coming to support their friends. However, now that the game was over, it’d be nice to talk to them. And in Chie’s case, to talk to Kou as soon as possible.

“Might just be a good idea to wait for the people to clear out a bit.” Kanji says, a bit irritated. “I’d rather not hafta push through a bunch of ‘em just to say ‘hey.’”

Yukiko nods, “Yeah, let’s just step back a bit and wait.” She looks around for the other person that was with them, not seeing her anywhere. “Chie?” She calls out, and unsurprisingly, not getting a response.

Pushing past these people was a bit of a chore, but Chie persevered, and she’s now met face to face with Daisuke. “H-hey Daisuke-kun, is Kou uhh… around?” She stammers out her question, now that she’s finally here, that feeling in her gut amplified tenfold.

Daisuke looks through the sea of people, then just settling on grabbing Chie’s arm and barrelling through until they find him. “Yo, Kou!” He calls, pulling Chie ahead of him and putting her directly in front of Kou. He looks at Kou, and prepares to see if his theory was right.

“H-hey Kou-kun…” Chie says awkwardly, fighting off the urge to bolt and using a lot more willpower than she thought she would.

Kou looks at Chie, seeing her avoiding eye contact and scanning her surroundings with an uncomfortable look on her face. “H-hey Chie… Uhhhh…” Yet again, Kou has another chance to ask her out. To finally act on these feelings he’s had for so long. But that question that nags at him every time comes into his head again. ‘Why do you need a reason to ask her out in the first place? You shouldn’t need to win a game in order to act, so why do you feel like you need to?’ And just like every other time this question came back, he doesn’t have an answer. However, this time, he has something else. “S-so, you looking for Yu?” He asks with a shaky voice.

Daisuke smirks to himself, feeling strange as his theory was confirmed to be correct.

Chie looks at Kou with a confused face, then she nods. She’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, if she doesn’t have to deal with some super awkward shit, she won’t. “Yeah, you seen him anywhere?”

Yosuke finally pushes through the crowd to where Chie is, just overhearing the last bit of this conversation. “I think I saw him head into the locker room, but that was a few minutes ago, he’s probably gone by now.” Yosuke clicks his tongue, “Bastard pushed all the attention onto us- wha-hey!” He’s interrupted by Chie pushing herself past him and jogging out of the gym. “The hell was that about?”

Kou chuckles to himself, “Man… How am I supposed to compete with the Yasogami Heartthrob?” He asks as he watches Chie leave the gym with a smile on his face.

Daisuke laughs, too. “I’m surprised I was able to guess exactly what you’d say after that.”

Kou quirks a brow, “What’s that supposedta mean?” When Daisuke just continues laughing, Kou turns to Yosuke, who’s staring at the gym doors. “What’s on your mind, Hanamura? Figured you’d be popping off right about now.”

Yosuke scratches behind his neck, as Yukiko and Kanji approach. “I dunno… Why was Chie so interested in booking it out of here when she heard Yu left?” His face grows more thoughtful, “And wait… Why did Yu bolt as soon as he could have, too?” All of them, even Yukiko and Kanji, go deep in thought for a moment, before all looking up at everyone else. Yosuke feels his lips start to curl into a smile.

Kanji shakes his head, “Ya don’t really think that they both left early because they’re…” He trails off, thinking that a lot could’ve happened these past few days without them noticing. Plus, he remembers when Yu ogled Chie when they were wearing swimsuits. Would he have been brave enough to do that so brazenly...?

“...already dating.” Yukiko finishes Kanji’s sentence, thinking that the possibility of them having been dating is actually decently high. They’ve hung out alone more than anyone else on the team, they’ve been on multiple ‘dates’ and had quite a few romantic moments, and Yukiko speculates some moments that Chie didn’t share as well, like the indirect kiss at Aiya.

Daisuke shakes his head, “No way in hell. That guy was so adamant about denying his feelings for her when I was grilling him.” He notices Yukiko and Kou staring at him with wide eyes, “..Oh, did you guys not know that he likes her?” They both shake their heads, “Huh. Well, yeah. He does, but he denied the hell out of it, so…” He trails off, “...Unless, they wanted to keep it a secret and he’s really devoted to it.”

Kou sighs, “Guys, this is ridiculous. We can just ask them, and based on their reaction, we’ll have our answer.” When everyone nods, he smirks. “...Though, maybe they’ll have decided to lie about it together.” He says conspiratorially, bringing the group back into this strange conspiracy talk.

———

Chie’s been running for a good bit, slowing to a walk when she starts nearing the floodplain. She thinks that she probably should’ve told Yukiko and Kanji that she was going to find Yu, but that probably would’ve made them think they were running off to have some secret rendezvous or something.

Yu takes in the sight of the gently flowing water in front of him, the orange glow of the sunset reflecting beautifully off the water. This serenity is helping him stay cool and calm. “Yu!” Or it was, until Chie called out to him. He didn’t think she’d come here so fast, he was expecting her to show up with Yukiko on their way home. She stands next to him and looks out at the water, before turning to him. “Why’d you leave so fast? We wanted to congratulate you!”

Yu smirks, and it makes her heart race even more than it already is. “Can’t say I wanted to get barraged.” He says softly, before looking behind him. “You came alone?”

Chie nods, and her cheeks turn slightly pink. “Yosuke told me he saw you leave, so I just sorta left…” Yu averts his gaze, lest he start blushing as well. “...Plus, I kinda need to talk to you about something.” She says cryptically, making him look back at her. So much for not blushing, since the second he sees her, now crimson, face, he starts blushing as well. He only hopes that it’s not nearly noticeable as hers.

Yu clears his throat, “Yeah? I wanted to talk to you, too. W-well, ask you something, to be precise.” Chie looks at him, seeing just the slightest bit of pink on his features. “B-but, by all means, you first.” Her heartbeat pounds in her ears the second he says that.

She nods almost imperceptibly, “O-okay…” She says quietly, wringing her hands together, then wiping them on her tank top. She reaches out to him slowly, taking his right hand in both of hers. His face goes up in flames, but then… “Yu, I… I’ve wanted to say this for awhile now... I think.”

Chie looks up at his face after looking at the hand she’s currently holding…

Only to see him scowling at something behind her.

She turns around to look, holding his hand with only one of hers now.

“T-Takeshi?” She says in utter befuddlement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I fuckin' hate Takeshi.
> 
> I hope none of you were hoping that I'd write out the whole game. I'd originally intended on writing some highlights, like Yu and Yosuke showing off, or Kou just being fucking goated at basketball. But then I remembered that I have quite literally no knowledge on the sport whatsoever.
> 
> Fun fact: I was originally going to have it be so that the whole thing with Daisuke and Kou had been orchestrated by Yosuke as a super complex matchmaker tactic for Yu, but I decided against it, not only that such a fuckin' galaxy brain plan would be super out of character for Yosuke, but also since I felt like that would've taken away a lot, if not all, of that scene Daisuke had in the last chapter. I even went back to change a bit of the older chapters to accommodate for the new direction I'm happier with.
> 
> I might come back and update this chapter at some point, since I have some ideas, but it's not guaranteed. But if I do, I'll be sure to mention it in the notes of a later chapter.
> 
> I wonder what the next chapter could hold... I hope you enjoyed, and see you next week!


End file.
